This week’s episode is all about dragons. 2024 is here per the lunar calendar, and it’s the year of the dragon. Interestingly enough, dragons have different mythologies depending on where you live on Earth – in the West, they are often depicted as fierce, aggressive, fire breathing creatures, the evidence of which you can see in many stories that are derived from western European tales. But in the East, dragons are often viewed as wise, gentle, and cultured creatures. So you will often see dragons in those traditions paired with tigers in a kind of yin/yang duality with the tiger being the aggressive one.
You can find examples of that symbolism in Eastern martial arts as well as in Asian media – e.g. the 80s manga/anime Crying Freeman uses the tiger/dragon motif continually in its two main characters (Yo and Emu, later in the series renamed with the Chinese surnames Long (龍) and Hu (虎) – “Dragon” and “Tiger,” respectively. You can see them below (as for what happened to their clothes, well, suffice to say, the characters in this show are capable of superhuman feats due to an unlikely combination of hypnosis + acupuncture + kung fu + nudity (not always in a good way … it’s kind of hard to explain, nor can I say I entirely understand it, but there you go, a prime cut of teenage hormones on steroids).
A little more child friendly – if you’ve ever seen the animated Rankin/Bass movie from 1982, The Flight of Dragons, it actually has both types of dragons (plus a bunch of others) in a fantasy yarn that seems like the sort of thing folks who enjoyed reading Tolkien in college in the 60s got nostalgic for and wanted to create for their kids. And, I thank thee. We taped it off the TV when I was a kid, so I wanted it continuously.
A lot of these ideas ended up congealing together when I added dragons into my own books. I’m reading from a section of The Thirteenth Hour as well during this episode. In the world of the books, dragons aren’t inherently good or bad, they just are, like another animal, though they do brush up against humans and defend their territory as other animals would. While not a central part of the books, they do come up quite a few times, affecting the lives of Logan and Aurora, the protagonists. Dragons are responsible for the deaths of Logan’s parents, a memory that haunts his childhood nightmares. Aurora later takes on a dragon herself, an act of bravado she later comes to regret, as it leaves her with a wound whose scar she carries for the rest of her life.
And at the point of the story that I read, both characters, who grew up together and went their separate ways, have reunited and sing a ballad they knew as children called, ironically, enough, “Dragons’ Eyes.”
Before we wrap up, I wanted to leave you with a preview of an episode coming out in a few months. I recently had a chance to talk with Alexka Chan, archeologist, painter, and author or an upcoming memoir called In the Garden Behind the Moon.
It’s a tale about her coming to grips with the loss of her parents, especially her father, a larger than life figure, and how myth and story helped not only smooth the grieving process but also created a renewed sense of wonder in life itself. Sprinkled through the book are traditional Chinese paintings, something she started doing later in life and continued to help rekindle her sense of equanimity as her father was nearing the end of his days. The paintings are really wonderful, and I asked if she wanted to share any dragons for the new year. She sent over a few to share:
We’ll hear more from Alexka in May, when her book releases, but until then, you can find about her paintings and books on Alexka’s website, Rising Phoenix Arts as well as on social media:
This week’s episode, the first of 2024, released on New Year’s Day, is to not only ring in the New Year but also to talk about goals and the process of making and attaining them. Are you a New Year’s resolution person? As mentioned in the podcast, I do enjoy the process but don’t wait until New Year’s to do it. However, I really like the fact that for at least a few weeks out of the year, society is collectively involved in some kind of positive betterment of themselves and their world. I know some people are more cynical about it, but hey, something is better than nothing.
I think that is why the song, “Fairytale of New York” is my favorite Christmas song. It’s not exactly a happy song … but then the winter holidays are not always happy times for everyone. But it ends on a more hopeful note, with hopes and dreams for a better year to come. I love that message. It’s one of the core parts of The Thirteenth Hour, and it’s probably why I like the films that inspired it, like The Neverending Story, The Last Starfighter, and The Rocketeer, because they’re basically self contained fairy tales with a fundamental belief that tomorrow can be better than today. I wish the same for you this year!
This week’s episode is a randomly selected section of The Thirteenth Hour. Eyes closed, I flipped through the book and landed on this section of Chapter 23. This section of the book has a few 80s movie references (Back to the Future, The Last Starfighter) and was probably influenced by the tone of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Let’s go!
Deep within the reaches of the universe, beyond all known reality, in the Land of Dreams, one could hear voices chattering noisily in this usually tranquil dimension.
“Dreamweaver, I have discovered a disturbance in the cosmos.”
“Yes, what is it?” inquired the Dreamweaver to his assistant.
“A man was about to lose his life, and it wasn’t destined to be yet.”
“Hmm. This is really getting to be a regular thing these days. Completely unacceptable.”
“I’m sorry, Dreamweaver. We are working full time to repair these disturbances.”
“No, no, I know you are. It’s just that … well, it looks damned sloppy on our part.”
“I understand, sir. We think the problems started 5,293.6 years ago when there was some … well, confusion about the use of XP–601.4 forms instead of XP–601.5.”
“Really! Are you serious? I don’t even know what the hell those things are!”
“But Dreamweaver, the XP–601.4 is a pre–birth application. Very different from XP–601.5, which is … well, pre–death.”
“What? That doesn’t make any sense. Who designed this portion of the Dreamscape, anyway?”
“Well, you did, sir.”
“What! I seriously don’t believe I would have been so asinine to come up with such an error–prone, red–tape, cockamamie, banana–republic–government–type–of–system as …”
The manual was placed in front of him.
“Hmmm. Yes, well, I see I did. But I think this portion was ghost-written. Anyway, 5,293.6 years ago is no time at all; this issue has been going on much longer than that. This can’t be the only reason for this issue.”
“Of course, Dreamweaver. We are continuing to investigate.”
“Good man. So, what are we going to do about this poor chap? What did you say this man’s name was?”
“The one who was here before – the one I believe you called Logan.”
“Great Scott! The one who discovered one of the secrets to eternal life? I knew he’d be in trouble sooner or later. I knew it! He had a knack for tempting the fates. I should have known his future wouldn’t go smoothly. Oh, this is a damned embarrassment. What the hell happened?”
“He was dying … got himself a mortal wound. I say, these humans and their love business. Makes one so … impulsive. Dove in front of that magic bolt aimed at the female; that wasn’t supposed to happen, either. This is all so irregular.”
“Yes, quite.”
“I didn’t know what to do, so right before he was to die, I transformed his body into a dream and whisked him away from the Earth. I brought him here.”
“All right, good work!”
“Thank you, sir. Just doing my job. Oh … and sir, there was this … small creature with him. The mole wasn’t supposed to perish, either, but it was to be killed in the blast.”
The Dreamweaver winced.
“But, as with Logan, I transformed the mole into a dream and brought it here.”
“Very good. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
The Dreamweaver sensed Logan’s presence. He turned to face the transparent form. There was a tiny shimmer next to Logan’s presence.
“Oh, Logan, this wasn’t supposed to happen at all. Now, I can see you fine, but please tell me, can you hear me?”
There was a ripple through the molecular fabric of the transparent form that no one but the Dreamweaver could see.
“All right then. Very good.”
The Dreamweaver, using a series of squeaks and grunts, articulated something that the mole in dream form must have understood, because it also shimmered.
“Now, Logan, you are now a dream. And so is your little pet. I must say, Logan, your track record with small woodland creatures as pets is not what I’d call the best. But, I must say, this time, it wasn’t your fault. Because, believe me, this was not supposed to happen! According to what we have foreseen, you are destined to have a long and prosperous life! Err, that’s what it says in your records, anyway. Of course, destinies can change somewhat, but not this much! This is all highly irregular! Some kind of cosmic screw–up, I’m afraid. It does happen from time to time, no need to worry, but as to why … well, we still haven’t figured it out. There are, err, bugs in the system that crop up from time to time. Might be a problem with the XP–601 form set. Most inconvenient. Does that make any sense? Oh, bother, of course it doesn’t. I don’t even understand it. Can you forgive me?”
There was another ripple in the transparent form. The Dreamweaver then translated to the tiny shimmering form next to Logan, then continued.
“Right, well, see, the strange thing is that you weren’t supposed to die when you fought Klax. You were destined to kill him, and that part of your destiny you did fulfill, but he was never supposed to kill you! In fact, you weren’t supposed to get injured at all! But luckily, one of my assistants caught the error and brought you here in time. So technically, you’re not dead, Logan. You’re still alive. We just had to transform you into a dream to get you here. That process healed whatever wounds you might have had. Next, we must return you to Earth where you can finish your life there. I’m terribly sorry about all this. I don’t know what to say; it’s all so highly irregular! It wasn’t supposed to be this way at all! You forgive me?” he asked again.
Another ripple.
“Sir, about the one called Aurora …” started another of the invisible assistants.
“Good Creator, there isn’t something wrong with her destiny now, is there? I’m starting to feel like the village idiot here. This is all damned embarrassing.”
“No, no, sir. It’s just that we cast a healing spell over her. She’s asleep now. This way, she’ll awake tomorrow morning, healed of her wounds, when Logan returns.”
“Thank the Creator. Very good.”
“Oh, and sir? Never mind about the XP–601 forms. I mean, that’s still a problem, but not the one in question now. I’m happy to say that the others and I have located the error in Logan’s destiny! It apparently got mixed up with that of a life form from the sixth dimension. Just a case of crossed wires, you could say. There was a leak in the molecular fabric between the sixth dimension and his. Pretty simple problem, actually, although routine maintenance would have caught the problem long ago, and that would have prevented all of this. We’re working right now to patch the molecular fabric between Logan’s dimension and the sixth.”
“Excellent!” Turning to the transparent form once again, the Dreamweaver continued to speak.
“I don’t know what I would do without good help. So, you see, Logan? Apparently, thanks to the diligence of my crew here, there’s nothing to worry about. Tomorrow you’ll go back to Earth in your human form. By then, the tear between the dimensions should be fixed. You must stay a dream until then, since nothing can happen to you in this form. Your destiny is officially on hold until you return to Earth in your human form. But in the meantime, feel free to look around and eat at one of our fine restaurants. Oh, and I’ll tell you what! At the stroke of the thirteenth hour, why don’t you go down to Earth with the other dreams? Since Aurora is asleep, why don’t you go into her mind? Just to let her know that you’re okay. Take your little friend here. Would you like that?”
This week’s episode is a reading of one of the first Dungeons and Dragons experiences I had as a kid aside from the cartoon and action figure line – Song of the Dark Druid was a Choose Your Own Adventure style book (Endless Quest was the TSR brand of that particular idea) that I got at an elementary school book sale and read over and over. The cover illustration, done by fantasy artist Jeff Easley, was what initially struck me as awesome and is probably one of the main reasons I wanted the book. We’re reading from the book today until we reach one of the endings!
This week’s episode is a randomly selected section of The Thirteenth Hour. Eyes closed, I flipped through the book and landed on this section near the start of Chapter 21. Note: There are a few perspective shifts in this section. When the text becomes purple and gets italicized, the point of view switches, in this case to Aurora. Let’s go!
… Aurora nodded. I was silent for a time. “Seems a bit … anticlimactic.” Aurora laughed. “Yeah. I’ll tell you one thing, though. When we get back, I’m going to get a hot bath and lie in the water all day. And then eat a huge meal. Speaking of which, I’m starving. Aren’t you?” “Yes. But I’m always hungry.” “Let’s find the nearest town and get something to eat. Stock up for the voyage home, too.” “Good idea if we had money. Maybe we can barter.” “Do we have anything of value?” “Well, let’s see,” I said, emptying my pockets. Aurora dropped the book of poetry onto the sand. I noticed her dress was stained red in one corner. “Aurora, what happened there?” “Oh, the cut on my leg opened up again. I scraped it or something; I didn’t even really notice. It’s okay.” She showed me the cut caused by the dragon. There a long, dull, red scab, and near the edge, a shiny red glob where part of the old scab had broken off. I whistled. “I think that one’s for life,” I said. “We better wrap it tight for the ride home.” After that was done, we continued with our inventory. “There’s our clothes, a pocketknife, a pot, a sack, the scroll, the book of poetry, Lightning, and the trident.” “We need our clothes, the pot, knife, sack, scroll, and Lightning for sure. And I’d like us to keep the book,” said Aurora. “Well, that kind of goes without saying. And I’d sure hate to give up the trident. It might come in handy yet. We still have a long voyage home.” “Hmm. Well, this figures as much.” “Let’s just get out of this desert and see what happens,” I said as I unfolded Lightning. “I’m for that. Got nothing to lose, I guess,” Aurora said. But that’s just the thing. Whichever god that ensures folks get what’s coming to them, the great leveler, that accountant in the sky, makes sure that just when you get to thinking you have nothing to lose, you find out you really do.
* * * * * * * *
“Lightning, what’s the nearest town?” “The nearest town? I’ll check my maps.” Minutes passed. “Sorry, guys. There’s nothing around within a sixty mile radius.” “Wow. Well, just take us in the direction of the Castle in Tartec, and we’ll find a forest or something along the way. As long as we get out of this desert, we’ll find something.” “Got it.” After a time, Lightning beeped. “Logan, look ahead! There’s a castle coming up on my maps. Just popped into view as we got a little closer. Hope the desert isn’t playing tricks on me!” “Well, I’m not seeing it yet, but we should probably check it out. We need food and water,” I said. The castle certainly could have been a mirage. The closer and closer we came, the more out of place it seemed. There were no surrounding houses or buildings. The thick walls and turrets were all made of black stone, which immediately struck me as being unusual. You would have thought that the castle would have been made of lighter stones to reflect the strong rays of sun. We alighted at the entrance, and I folded up Lightning and put her in my pocket. Before we could even call out a greeting, a giant wooden drawbridge lowered over a sandy moat to let us in. “An interesting welcome,” I commented. I was suspicious, but I’d encountered lots of suspicious things over the course of this trip. The drawbridge closed behind us. Not good. Inside was completely black, and I took Aurora’s hand so we wouldn’t get separated. Our eyes adjusted gradually to the darkness, which was stiflingly hot. Beads of sweat gathered on my head and forehead. We walked slowly down what looked like a giant, deserted hall. I couldn’t see the floor well, but our footsteps sounded crisp reverberating off the stone around us. Then an icy cold wind swirled across the bottom of the floor. It initially felt great, but given how out of place it seemed, it was disconcerting. Aurora tightened her grip on my hand. It was about now that I started to get a feeling this really wasn’t a good idea. I swear, I think I must have been dropped on my head as a baby or something because that part of your brain that warns you of dangerous situations seemed to work extra slow in mine. “Logan, look!” Aurora said in a whisper. Deep within the shrouds of darkness, a pair of scarlet red eyes shone at us like rubies flashing in the sun – the same ones that Aurora had described in the Last Fortress of the Earth. I looked to my left – another scarlet pair of eyes. They moved closer. Suddenly, the eyes seemed to multiply in the darkness. There were hundreds of pairs, looking at us, moving towards us. I regripped the trident nervously in my left hand. Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding smoke ahead of us, and we fell. I lost my grip on Aurora’s hand. When we recovered, someone was standing above us. I looked up – tall, large, with broad shoulders and arms folded across an expansive chest. The figure was dark and robed; I couldn’t see a face but got the feeling that I didn’t want to. “Welcome. I’ve been expecting you … for a long time.” The sight of the dark figure sent a tingle up my spine (that, as you may have guessed, happened a lot during this trip). I scurried to my feet and looked for Aurora, seeing her silhouette not far away. “W–Who are you?” “That is none of your concern right now. What is important is that you have completed your quest.” “How did you know about that?” “I know about many things.” “Those men – the ones with the red eyes in the Last Fortress of the Earth – you sent them, didn’t you?” I asked. The robed figure chuckled softly. “Yes, yes, I did. Just to check on your progress. Now, I assume, you know the secret to eternal life.” I gathered what confidence I had and replied, “The secret’s for King Darian IV of Tartec. If you want it, why don’t you ask him.” I do admit to feeling like a tool saying that, but give me a break, it’s all I could think of at the time. The robed figure laughed deeply. His laughter echoed through the room. “That’s a good one. For Darian IV.” Shaking his head, he said, “Well, let’s just say I could make it well worth your while if you told me first. Servants!” Several of the dark figures with the red eyes approached out of the shadows. Up close they weren’t quite as scary as long as you didn’t look directly at their eyes. The robed figure whispered something to his servants, and they scurried away like little mice. They returned with a giant chest that looked very heavy. The sound of the chest hitting the floor echoed across the stone walls. They opened it to reveal a huge mound of gold coins and sparkling gems. “This is only one such chest filled with the Earth’s treasures. I have hundreds more. They mean nothing to me, but they would make you a very rich man. Even richer, I grant you, than your King. They can all be yours if you give me the secret to eternal life.” “I don’t want your money,” I said cautiously. The figure stiffened, and said, “Reconsider, Logan. I’m not used to receiving ‘no’ as an answer.” “Thanks, but no thanks.” “You’re making a big mistake, Logan,” said the figure gravely. You may have noticed by now I don’t take well to being ordered around. Looking back, it’s been a failing of mine that has gotten me into trouble over the years. It would have been so easy now for me to say yes. What did it matter to me? But something about his impatient, authoritarian manner annoyed me and brought out the stubbornness of my childhood. This guy was just like Darian and Aron (may he rest in peace), and all the others that had pushed me around throughout my life. I was used to people like this using me as a doormat, and I was getting tired of it. “I said no,” I said firmly. “All right. If that’s the way you want it. Maybe you won’t tell me now. But you will. I have ways. Guards!” Two huge, muscle–bound men carrying battle–axes approached from the shadows and bowed to the robed figure. “Seize the girl!” “Run, Aurora!” I shouted. But it was too late.
“And seize the boy, too! He’s getting on my nerves! Bring the girl to me!”
“Hey! Take it easy!” shouted Aurora, as the huge, hulking men grabbed Aurora and dragged her, kneeling, before the robed figure. All I could do was stand by helplessly, feeling like an idiot, as two more of the huge guards pinned my arms and ripped the trident from my hands with so much force that I wondered if they’d broken my wrists. They wore black hoods over their heads so I couldn’t see their faces. I’ll wager they probably weren’t friendly. They also smelled like they hadn’t taken a bath in ages, although it wasn’t my place to talk. He bent over Aurora and tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. “Perhaps your friend, Logan, won’t talk, but I have ways.” Her face turned pale, and she fell backwards. “W–what do we have to do with you?” stuttered Aurora, struggling in the guards’ grips. “Oh, you have everything to do with me,” the figure began. “I need the answer, the secret to eternal life. You found it. I need it. It’s what will grant me the freedom that was taken from me so long ago.” “You mean just knowing it? That’s all?” There was a pause. “Tell me the secret, and everything will be fine. I’m sure your King won’t care if someone gets a little advance notice. You tell me what I need to know, and you get to go on your merry way.” I didn’t really believe him, but I wasn’t sure what else to do. There were too many guards to fight, and there was no readily visible way to escape. If I could get on Lightning, maybe I’d have a chance in the air … until we crashed into something in this confined space. And what about Aurora? No, that was a lousy plan. But there was one I figured was worth a try … I could sacrifice the scroll the Dreamweaver had given us. It probably wasn’t the answer this guy was looking for, but it might buy us some time, especially if he were distracted. If I could pull out a knife along with the scroll … who knew what kind of mayhem could ensue. So, I explained I needed to get to my pockets. Unfortunately, as quickly as the guards’ vice–like hands released me so I could pull out the scroll, they clamped down again. The dark figure grabbed the scroll out of my hand greedily and opened it. A deep, guttural laugh came from his throat, and he fell back onto his throne. “At last! After all these years! Thank you, my boy, now I have all I need. Guards, get rid of the boy, and bring the girl here!” Not good for me … I knew it! I said a lot of bad words and started struggling with the guards like there was no tomorrow. I had almost broken free when the figure spoke again. I wasn’t listening to what this lunatic was saying. There was an empty feeling in my stomach, and my arms were beginning to cramp from the guards’ crushing grip and my continual efforts to wriggle free. My eyes darted left and right, trying to find an exit, a possible way out of this mess. I couldn’t see in back of me, but I had a vague idea where the guards’ legs were. If I could kick them … then Logan might have a chance … “Logan, Logan. What did you really expect from me? After all these years, why should I trust anyone? So why bother to struggle? You’ll only die tired. Besides, your little friend won’t come to any harm. I’ll make sure of that.” I told him to fornicate himself. He laughed. “Now, what did you think I was going to do to her? Sacrifice? Torture? Rape?” Well … the thoughts did cross my mind. “Now, Logan, I’m very much the gentleman. No harm will come to her. She will have the best care. I have been watching this one, and she can help me in my plan. And who knows. I was never promised a bride. Perhaps … this one will do …” I almost fainted right there. I looked over at Aurora; her face was whiter than I’d ever seen it. There had to be a way out of this! Better do something now before this goes any further … He must have seen my stunned look, because even though I couldn’t see his face, I sensed he was grinning. Better do something now! C’mon, Logan, think, think! The guards have axes. If only I could … “But you, my boy, you’re a problem. If I let you go, who knows if you’ll somehow spoil my plan? Guards! Kill him!” “No!” shouted Aurora, and she drove an elbow back into one of the guard’s ribs. He grunted, but didn’t budge, and when she tried to kick her leg back into his groin, he only lifted her high up in the air in a clean military press. With all my strength, I shouted and burst free. I drove a side kick into the hip of one of the guards, elbowed the other in the ribs, grabbed one of the battle axes from the fallen guards, and ran to swipe at the guard holding Aurora. Then there was a blinding light, and I couldn’t move. My arms were pinned over my head, my head locked in position, and the shout coming out of my mouth was suddenly muted, though my mouth stayed open. I tried to close my eyes, but they wouldn’t move. I was frozen. “Well, Logan, that should hold you. And what have we here? Well, this is a touching situation. How are you, up there, Aurora?” “Ah, screw you!” she yelled. “She’s a perky one, isn’t she? Well, how about this. Logan, I won’t kill you. I think, Logan, if the situation here had been different, I think we could have even been … friends. I like your spirit. In many ways, you remind me of my brother, the bastard that trapped me here. So I’m going to test you. It’ll be an interesting experiment. You’ll live. But you may wish you hadn’t. Guards, throw him in the dungeon! Servants, bring her to me!” His laugh echoed across the vaulted room. “Aurora …” My newly found voice came out as a whisper, and my heart ached as I heard Aurora calling my name as she, too, was dragged away. Slowly, my muscles regained sensation, signalled by a burning tingling, like they had just woken from sleep. In their lethargy, all I could do was watch as the guards picked me up and dragged me away. It was as if the spell knocked the fight from my spirit as well as from my body. I felt totally defeated, worn out, and didn’t think I’d have the heart to put up a struggle even if I were physically capable of doing so.
The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #317 and Like a Hood Ornament 37: Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 5, Rocketeer News, and Toymaking Updates
Some interesting news this week. The Rocketeer is supposedly getting a sequel! Now, I am not holding my breath, since there have been sequel rumors for years, and so far, they have all died on the vine. But it is exciting, nonetheless. Even if nothing comes of it, if it generates some interest in Dave Steven’s original comics and the 1991 film for a new generation, I view that as a win.
One thing that does seem more tangible, since it is slated for a release next month, is a beautiful Rockeeter board game. Now, I gotta be honest, board games have never really been my thing. Half the time, when I read the instructions, I go, “What? I don’t understand what the hell you are supposed to do. Who wrote these things?” Also, maybe once my kids are older and we can all play them together, it will be a different story, but most of the ones more complicated that Candy Landy require a level of concentration pretty much making them a no-go for the little ones. But … that is not to say that will always be the case! Plus, game or no game, I would buy this one for the little miniature Rocketeer figurines alone (which I was thinking of trying to make a few months ago – this saves me the trouble)! I will be looking forward to this one this fall for sure.
Speaking of The Rocketeer, I am using a Reaction Rocketeer figure as the base of the body for a 5 POA Kenner-style figure of Logan from The Thirteenth Hour. The head will be modified from a figure of the Charlie Sheen character from Red Dawn. Just need to do a few more touch ups and then make it all go together smoothly. More to come shortly.
Here are a few pictures of the Beverly minifigure I have been working on for the past few months: Just about done, I think. Just a few touch ups here and there.
And now, speaking of which, back to the duck!
This is the section in the story where Howard meets Phil (a young Tim Robbins). There are some really funny asides the author, Ellis Weiner, added for this segment:
Lastly, all proceeds to The Thirteenth Hour Studio on Etsy over Sept will be donated to the Red Cross (RedCross.org) for Hurricane Ida Relief. Check the link below to support those affected, still in the midst of the pandemic, with 80s retro art (music-books-toys).
This week, we’re again taking a short break from the 30th anniversary of The Rocketeer by celebrating the 35th anniversary of my another of my favorite films, Howard the Duck. The zaniness continues in the movie novelization of Howard the Duck by Ellis Weiner, based on the screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, though with a number of humorous and satirical additions that were unique to the novelization. Some of those are also found in the three part comic adaptation that came out about the same time as the film and novel. A few screenshots:
As mentioned in previous weeks, there is a Howard the Duck documentary, Howard the Doc, currently being created with interviews from some of the original writers / cast / crew. I do believe it is the only one that has ever been attempted for this first of all Marvel movies.
It is in the final stages of production. Their team needs some love / support / bucks to help complete the project, and you can support them on Indiegogo. Some crowdfunding platforms don’t result in any funding going to the creators if the final goal is not met, but in this case, the filmmakers will get it every penny that you contribute even if the final target is not met. If you have love for the 1986 film, comic, the original cast/crew, or 80s movies in general, please consider taking a look at the campaign, sharing on your social media, or contributing. Hopefully, then we can all see the final product!
Some screenshots of the production with Ed Gale (who was inside Howard), Jeffrey Jones (a.k.a. the principal who get booted in the face in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), and Lea Thompson.
The minifigure that I am making of Beverly, along with a portrait of Howard, is now a perk if you contribute at the $125 level. Check out the fundraiser above; I believe it is ending on 8/30, so spread the word!
This week, we’re again taking a short break from the 30th anniversary of The Rocketeer by celebrating the 35th anniversary of my another of my favorite films, Howard the Duck. The zaniness continues in the movie novelization of Howard the Duck by Ellis Weiner, based on the screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, though with a number of humorous and satirical additions that were unique to the novelization. So far, I’m liking the novel version of Howard more than the movie version (some screenshots below from the film of this segment).
In this part of the chapter, we learn a little more about Beverly Switzler, the frontswoman of Cherry Bomb, an all female band essentially created for the film. Howard, sleeping in a garbage can, meets Beverly, who has just played a disappointing gig and gets accosted by some overly intrusive “fans.” He fakes some “quack fu” and scares the things away, though as in the film, Bev hardly sits passively at the sidelines.
I found some drawings I believe done by Joe Tompkins, the costume designer for the film. There’s a collection of sketches he did that you can see from the film for Beverly and Howard (click below for more info):
Speaking of the film, there is a Howard the Duck documentary, Howard the Doc, currently being created with interviews from some of the original writers / cast / crew. I do believe it is the only one that has ever been attempted for this first of all Marvel movies.
It is in the final stages of production. Their team needs some love / support / bucks to help complete the project, and you can support them on Indiegogo. Some crowdfunding platforms don’t result in any funding going to the creators if the final goal is not met, but in this case, the filmmakers will get it every penny that you contribute even if the final target is not met. If you have love for the 1986 film, comic, the original cast/crew, or 80s movies in general, please consider taking a look at the campaign, sharing on your social media, or contributing. Hopefully, then we can all see the final product!
Some screenshots of the production with Ed Gale (who was inside Howard), Jeffrey Jones (a.k.a. the principal who get booted in the face in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), and Lea Thompson.
This week, we’re again taking a short break from the 30th anniversary of The Rocketeer by celebrating the 35th anniversary of my another of my favorite films, Howard the Duck. The zaniness continues in the movie novelization of Howard the Duck by Ellis Weiner, based on the screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, though with a number of humorous and satirical additions that were unique to the novelization. So far, I’m liking the novel version of Howard more than the movie version.
An example of some of the bits of humor thrown in by author Ellis Weiner that doesn’t make it onto the screen. Sometimes these movie novelizations were kind of phoned in, but so far, this one really goes above and beyond the call of duty.
Here is the section where we meet our heroine, Beverly. There is a little more detail about her and her band mates here than in the film, which is one of the nice things that these movie novelization did when done well.
Speaking of the film, there is a Howard the Duck documentary, Howard the Doc, currently being created with interviews from some of the original writers / cast / crew. I do believe it is the only one that has ever been attempted for this first of all Marvel movies.
It is in the final stages of production. Their team needs some love / support / bucks to help complete the project, and you can support them on Indiegogo. Some crowdfunding platforms don’t result in any funding going to the creators if the final goal is not met, but in this case, the filmmakers will get it every penny that you contribute even if the final target is not met. If you have love for the 1986 film, comic, the original cast/crew, or 80s movies in general, please consider taking a look at the campaign, sharing on your social media, or contributing. Hopefully, then we can all see the final product!
Some screenshots of the production with Ed Gale (who was inside Howard), Jeffrey Jones (a.k.a. the principal who get booted in the face in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), and Lea Thompson.
This week, we’re taking a short break from the 30th anniversary of The Rocketeer by celebrating the 35th anniversary of my another of my favorite films, Howard the Duck. When I was creating the Aurora character from The Thirteenth Hour, Beverly from the film was one of the influences I used in creating Aurora’s character. Awhile back, I found an old copy of the movie novelization so figured this would be the perfect time to read it on the podcast. It’s based on the screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, so I’m thinking it may give some background info that might help explain some parts of the film. And this intro section does not disappoint – it is totally bonkers!
If you’re a member of the Patreon, check out the exclusive podcast they dropped this past weekend for more on the making of a Beverly minifigure. Will be posting periodic updates as the initial clay sculpt gets finished and the molding / casting process gets underway.
This week’s episode comes at a time of increasing national and global anxiety about the future, and as inhabitants on this rock orbiting a star on the edge of the Milky Way, we’re subject to the milieu of the environment, and unfortunately, there’s a lot of angst in the soup. And as anyone who’s ever had a muscle cramp can attest, the way around a cramp is not with more tension, it’s relaxing into it – leaning in to the pain. In this episode, I talk about the concept of the “receiving body” (ukemi in Japanese, though usually translated as “breakfall”). If we meet the impact of a blow or a fall head on, we play a game of structural strength with the opposing force. When you play that game with the ground, you always lose (unless you are Chuck Norris, of course). Just as a good training partner (uke, a.k.a. “receiver”) is able to flow with an attacker and ride off (or simulate) the impact of an attack so his partner can learn how the body moves and responds, doing a good ukemi means never making a dead landing. It means rolling with the force of the fall as best you can. The ability to relax the body in such situations is counter-intuitive, since the natural instinct is to brace for impact, but remember, the ground always wins in a game of strength.
Ukemi is not limited to the physical, though. We are always receiving bodies of the slings and arrows that life throws at us. There, too, the ability to relax is counter-intuitive. Thankfully, as with breakfalls, the ability to relax into potential pain can be taught and practiced. We all have the ability within ourselves. In this episode, I talk about one of the simplest (though I didn’t say easiest), most natural (again, natural does not mean intuitive) things we all know how to do – breathing. It does take a bit of practice to do it in a way that slows things down to a more manageable pace, but the good news is that once you know how to do it, you can practice deep, slow breathing almost anywhere, anytime, and it doesn’t have to be during a time of official “meditation” (I did it the other day in a dentist’s chair).
If the music playing during the breathing segment sounds familiar, it’s because it’s similar to the intro podcast music. It’s a slow reworking of The Thirteenth Hour theme. For Patreon supporters, watch for an exclusive podcast episode on it sometimes this week as well as a longer stretch to accompany the breathing exercise. I’ll make an accompanying video soon as well.
Speaking of music, the song “Many Miles” debuts tomorrow. It ended up taking 6 years, but I’m glad with how it ended up turning out!
And, as mentioned last episode, the patches I mentioned a few weeks ago are now ready and available for purchase here! They come with a high quality mp3 download from Once Upon a Dream, the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP.
If you still have a cassette player, take advantage of the following deal and be transported to another world! SALE! While supplies last, grab Long Ago Not So Far Away on cassette! Just $1/tape! https://ko-fi.com/s/5579db9b27
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’m reading from the next installment of the fanfic short story, “The Last Rocketeer,” describing a team-up between Centauri from The Last Starfighter and a 71 year-old Cliff Secord who has long since given up being the Rocketeer (but secretly wants one last flight). He gets his chance in this tale! But as usual with Cliff, it all goes south! Find out what happens this week as the defecation starts to hit the proverbial ventilation!
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This film is probably John Hughes’ only real fantasy (sexually frustrated teenage boys create a woman a laFrankenstein or Pygmalion). So – basically, a pretty guy-centric film that has many things in it that would never get it made today. Still – despite all that, it has some great scenes that still hold up today. Check out these:
Look at how Lisa deals with Gary’s parents (who are your typical John Hughes parents, meaning that they are clueless).
A great scene with Vince Townsend Jr. (RIP)
“The Circle” by Max Carl is playing in the background with the boys wrap up the crazy party with their respective girls. The Weird Science soundtrack is another great soundtrack.
The scene “The Circle” is playing in always stuck with me. There was a little homage to it in this scene from The Thirteenth Hour. The main character, Logan, is trying to express similar sentiments to his best friend, Aurora, during a difficult point in their lives (they are both basically imprisoned):
The next day, a clanging sound woke me from my dream. I looked around, not quite aware what was real and what was still a dream.
“Chow time,” came the gruff voice of a guard, opening the door of my cell. Aurora stood behind him, carrying a basket. I noticed she was wearing a new dress. The guard put a meaty hand on the basket and pulled, but Aurora quietly but firmly held onto it. Then the guard let go, peeked inside, and grunted something that sounded like, “Huh. Alright. You can go in. But no funny business.”
“Hear that, Aurora? No funny business,” I said, yawning, wiping the sleepiness out of my eyes.
Aurora just shook her head and gave me one of her half smiles. “Always the joker.”
We sat against the wall, looking up at the sunlight coming through the small window by the ceiling as we ate the meal in the basket. When we had finished, we continued sitting there, and I guess a little smile crept over my face because after awhile Aurora asked, “What are you thinking?”
“I feel lucky.”
[POV change to Aurora temporarily] I laughed a little. “Lucky?” I asked, smiling at Logan.
“Well, you remember that first day we met?” Logan asked.
I nodded.
“What would’ve happened if it hadn’t been you who’d found me that day and taken me into the orphanage? What if it’d been someone else? We might not have gotten to know each other very well at all. Was it fate that we met? The Dreamweaver said he tries to just let things happen. So was it just chance?”
I shrugged, raising my eyebrows and smiling while cocking my head a little to the side to avoid the sun’s glare.
“You know, even if I could get to know all the women in the world, one by one, like in a giant, living catalog …” Logan started.
“Yeah,” I interrupted, “quote–unquote ‘get to know.’”
“Alright, whatever,” he continued, exasperated, “I suck at talking. But what I’m trying to say is that … if … if I were given the opportunity to create an ideal woman, like take some of this, mix it with some of that …”
“Oh, like a recipe.”
“Yes. I mean, no! Dammit, I knew what I wanted to say in my head, and it’s coming out all wrong.” He started again. “What I’m trying to say is … that if I could pick the perfect one … for me, she’d be … just like you. I think I always knew that. It’s just that … it took a long time for me to be able to tell you. So yes, in so many words, I feel lucky.”
I was actually a little stunned. Here’s a little something that took me a long time to figure out. If you complement someone soon after you meet him, you sound like a kiss–ass. But if you wait, get to know the person, and then complement him, your words carry so much more weight because then the person knows you’re sincere. In all the time I’d known Logan, this awkward, limping, borderline aphasic complement was probably the first, totally serious, non–joking one he’d ever given me. And it meant more to me than any flowing, articulate, greeting–card style prose could or ever would. My face grew hot, and I felt all warm inside. And now it was my turn to be tongue–tied.
“I … I feel lucky, too,” I said, finally, resting my head on his arm.
[Logan from here on out] Then the guard walked by and signalled that it was time for Aurora to go.
I thought of something. “New dress?”
“Oh, I found some old clothes lying around in my room. This one fits a little better.”
“Do you still have your grey dress? The one you got from the elves?”
“Sure, why?”
“Can I borrow it?”
She laughed loudly and asked, “Whatever would you want it for?”
“To use as a pillow. I don’t have one.”
I wasn’t sure, but I thought I saw Aurora blushing. “Sure, I mean … I … could just bring you a real pillow. I have an extra. But I’ll see,” Aurora started, looking down, “what I can put together, and I’ll get it to you next time I can slip away.” Then she looked back up at me and said, “To say that your cell needs furnishing is probably the understatement of the year. And we’ll have to see what we can do about your food service. Water with a side of algae just doesn’t cut it these days.”
The guard grunted something and led Aurora out. Through the bars, she looked back and whispered softly into my ear, “I love you, Logan.”
“I love you, too,” I said, reminding myself again of a debt I owed, a debt I wouldn’t mind paying for the rest of my life, to luck, to dreams and wishes, to Dragons’ Eyes and grey dresses, to love and other things.
I ended up writing a song to go with this particular scene for the soundtrack called “Love, Grey Dresses, and Other Things” that expresses similar sentiments:
Look for more John Hughes in the future!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week’s show is about the idea of the reluctant hero, an archetype in literature and film to describe an ordinary person thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and as a result does things beyond what he or she could ever had imagined. We also talk about various definitions of the word “hero,” from the ancient Greek usage, to hero in terms of an idol, to a hero in terms of someone who does something selfless to help someone else, whether in the everyday or out of the ordinary sense.
I didn’t read this segment in the show, but here a chapter in The Thirteenth Hour which describes this idea where Logan, the main protagonist, first becomes a reluctant hero:
The day before the end of basic training, I went into town to find a shoe repair shop. A buckle on my left shoe had broken a few days ago and now, every time I stepped down with that foot, my heel would slide out of the shoe. It was getting annoying, but I’d finally managed to put together enough money to cover what I thought it’d cost. One gold piece came from a poker game where I’d gotten lucky, and the rest I’d gotten from picking pennies off the street, which is what you do when you don’t get paid.
I asked a man on one of the crowded streets for directions. When I got to the shop, there was a big sign that said, “CLOSED FOR REPAIRS, WILL REOPEN IN TWO WEEKS.”
“Figures,” I thought to myself. “Two weeks? Maybe there’s another shop in town.” I went back to kicking a stone and trying not to fling my boot off in the process as I wandered through the downtown merchant sector, considering what to do next.
So there I was, minding my own business when I heard an ear–piercing scream. I spun around, forgetting all about my shoe and the rock. Right in the middle of the dirt road lay an old man, struggling to get up. About ten yards away, barrelling down the road at full speed was a four horse carriage. The driver in front was shouting out commands to his horses, but they weren’t listening. There was a big crowd of people watching from the sidewalks. I saw the woman that had screamed; she was still screaming.
“Somebody do something!” Apparently, that didn’t include herself.
In fact, everyone stared around blankly, waiting for someone else to make the first move. A few people new to the scene made faces and hurried off.
“Do something!” she screamed over and over.
Aw, shit, people, the lady had a point. Though I had half a mind to throw something at her to get her to shut up, I pushed past the people on the edge and jumped into the middle of the road. The next few seconds seemed to be in slow motion. Unfortunately, in what was to become regular pattern until progressing to a more advanced stage of cognitive development, I didn’t think first before doing something idiotic.
At any rate, the man was sitting up, dazed. I don’t know how close the carriage was, but it couldn’t have been far, because as I dove at the old man, tackling him around the waist, a horse clipped the loose heel of my boot, the busted one, sending it spinning off into the gutter. We rolled to the other side of the road, missing the remaining hooves by a heartbeat.
I sat up and looked around. The old man looked all right as far as I could tell, just a little shaken. Suddenly what seemed like hundreds of faces crowded around us.
“Are you all right?”
“Bravest thing I ever saw.”
“Somebody call a doctor!”
“That was a pretty rough fall that old fella took, is he okay?”
I stood and bent over the old man. He was breathing, but his eyes were closed. He looked like he was in pain, but he didn’t utter a sound when I asked if he felt alright.
“What happened? What happened? I didn’t see,” someone yelled.
“Well, this old fella was walking across the street, he tripped, and he couldn’t get up … mebbe ’cause he’s so old. Anyway, doesn’t matter now ’cause that’s when the kid jumped in. Tackled him around the waist.”
“The kid’s a hero!” said someone else. They looked at me, expecting me to say something.
“Well …” As usual, words failed me.
“Now, don’t be modest, you’re a hero, son.”
Okay, if these people wanted me to be a hero, then what the hell. Heroes are entitled to certain privileges, like new boots. Any takers?
Just then, a man in a white coat pushed his way through the crowd saying, “It’s okay, I’m a doctor!” He bent over the old man, briefly examining him.
After he had finished, the man said, “Probably just a twisted ankle. No serious injuries I can see from here, but let’s get him on that stretcher. Watch his head, and keep his neck still. We’ll carry him to my office. It’s just a few blocks from here,” said the doctor.
“I don’t need no damn stretcher!” yelled the old man.
“Everybody goes on the stretcher,” the doctor said emphatically.
“Ah, go to hell! At least let me talk to the kid that saved my rear end! Hey kid! Come over here!”
I walked over.
“I just wanted to thank you. My name’s Wally. What’s yours?”
“Logan.”
“Well, nice to meet you, Logan. I’m been living in this stinking kingdom for eighty–five years, and now I guess I’ll be able to stay for a few more years, huh?”
Now was that a good thing?
“You know, kid, you got a real set of marbles to do something like that. Hell, I wouldn’t have done that even for me! But hey, no complaints, glad you did. I could use a kid like you. What do you do for a living?”
“I’m … a soldier, I guess, in training.”
“No kidding! That’s perfect. Meet me at this address tomorrow; you won’t regret it!” he said, handing me a little white card.
“What’s it for?”
“Let me put it to you this way. You ever see a magician?”
I said I had once.
“And did you like it?”
I said I’d enjoyed the show.
“But weren’t you disappointed when you discovered that he was a fake? I mean, that he wasn’t using real magic, just tricks?”
I said I was disappointed when he told us that there was no such thing as magic.
“Nonsense! The lousy bastard didn’t know what he was talking about! See, you have to understand, real magicians like to keep that a secret … until it’s needed! So, of course there’s magic. I’m really not supposed to be telling you that, but, what the hell, kid, you just saved my life.”
“How do you know about magic?”
The old man looked both ways suspiciously. Motioning for me to come closer, he said, almost in a whisper, “I’ll get to that in a minute. This is what I’m proposing. How would you like to learn some genuine, old–fashioned magic? No bull now. Just the real thing. And get paid for it!”
“Well, sure, I guess.”
“Alright. You like traveling? Seeing new places?”
“Well, I haven’t really done any, but I would like to.”
“Great! How about sports? You like running, climbing, jumping, fencing, things like that?”
“Um, yeah, they’re okay.”
“Would you like to be better at those games? You’ll get better in this job!”
“Sure … I guess. What is this job, anyway?”
“Yeah, so it’s all set then. Meet me tomorrow. I’ll see to it that an announcement is made tomorrow morning.”
Just then the doctor motioned to his assistant, who picked up the other end of the stretcher.
“Umm, that’s nice and all, but I live in the castle training grounds. It’s awfully hard for anyone from the outside to get inside there.”
“Oh, silly me! Did I mention that I am one of King Darian’s wizards? Well, that’s me. Wally the Wizard at your service. I’ll see you tomorrow!” he shouted as he was being carried away.
Wait a minute, I thought to myself. Something sounded fishy here. What was one of the King’s wizards doing outside the castle walls? They supposedly always stayed locked up in one of the remote wings of the castle. This one was an awfully smooth talker. I wondered if this had something to do with what those two knights were talking about; one of them had mentioned the King’s wizards. Something didn’t sound right. He never even told me what the job was. And …
“Wait!” I yelled. “What’s the catch?”
But the wizard was too far away to hear.
“Ah, shit,” I muttered to myself, finding my left boot wet and slime–covered in the gutter. I wiped it off on some grass and secured the loose buckle as best I could. It squished every time I stepped on it. Something wasn’t right, but like the proverbial stinking turd, I’d stepped right in it.
Well, I thought, kicking another stone the rest of the way back to the castle, on the bright side, at least I am walking away. Of all the ways to end up dead or in the hospital, getting trampled was not one I’ve ever wanted to experience.
This little animated .gif is, of course, from the point in the movie where the Rocketeer, not above a little self conscious vanity, asks how he looks. Peevy, not above a little blunt honesty, says “Like a hood ornament!” The Rocketeer blasts off for the first time, Peevy gets blown backwards into the hangar, and I get a name for this part of the podcast!
I first learned of the term “reluctant hero” from an ad for The Rocketeer. Cliff is not motivated initially by much other than a desire to make some money and get in the good graces of his girlfriend, a rising starlet with an eye for the finer things in life (at least from Cliff’s perspective). There are lots of other great examples from cinema and literature.
One of my favorites is from the 1992 movie, Hero, with Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, Andy Garcia, and Joan Cusak. The Dustin Hoffman character is a minor conman, if I recall right (I need to watch the movie again) who becomes a reluctant hero after he saves a bunch of people from a plane crash but can’t take credit for the act. I love this ending scene – both for its life lessons as well as its insight into human nature. As hinted above in The Thirteenth Hour passage, a lot of people don’t want to do heroic things, especially when eyes are on them. They might act when someone else initially steps in, but making that first step (like Logan does above or Bernie does in the scene below), takes a certain, well, heroic disregard for what other people think, and as social animals, that’s not always the easiest thing for humans to have.
Although I hadn’t seen Hero yet when I originally wrote The Thirteenth Hour, I had seen The Last Starfighter – many times, in fact – and the way Alex Rogan behaves through most of the movie is very much in keeping with the way of the reluctant hero (as well as one of the influences in the creation of Logan). Here’s when he’s first offered the chance to be a Starfighter:
Stay tuned for more Rocketeer gear talk next week! Stay safe!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
In the first part of the show, I’m reading from a section of The Thirteenth Hour about what Aurora thought about her first experience flying on Lightning, Logan’s magical hoverboard.
We left for the Castle in the Water the next day. Logan showed me his air board called Lightning; it was somehow able to expand itself so I could fit on as well. Let’s just say it’s better if you suspend belief a little. I guess that’d be a fitting theme for the following section, indeed this whole story, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Getting on Lightning was one thing, but flying was something else entirely. There was only one foot strap for me, so I had to hold onto Logan. I think I would have anyway. I had never been more than twenty feet off the ground in my life. Logan said he was still getting the hang of it when Lightning beeped out something. Words appeared on some kind of window near her front. They said that I wouldn’t fall off because there was a protective shield around the board. I wasn’t so sure, and even to this day, a ride on Lightning makes me want to vomit.
I suppose flying was fun, in a white–knuckle–ride–by–the–seat–of–your–wet–pants sort of way, but I never really got the hang of it, even though Logan tried to show me how to pilot Lightning. It should have been easy – you rocked your body back and forth to go up or down and swayed your hips to turn – but I guess it just wasn’t my thing, and I nearly had a heart attack when I accidentally flipped us upside down.
The altitude was one thing, but the speed completely blew me away. Okay, I know, not funny. But really, if you can imagine being shrunk, tied to the head of an arrow, then fired in the air from one of those six foot war bows like the ones the King’s archers used, then you’ll have some idea what it felt like.
Flying that fast always made me nauseous. That first time, after an hour or two, I couldn’t take it anymore and told Logan to get Lightning to pull over to the coast (we were flying over water), where I threw up in some bushes. I collapsed onto my back, staring up at the sky, which, for some reason, kept spinning round and round. That’s how Logan found me. It all seemed very unladylike, and I guess I was looking very sheepish when I climbed back on Lightning, because Logan, who must have figured out what I was doing, asked if I were okay.
I grunted something. I guess I looked okay, so he grinned.
“I puked all over my uniform a few days ago, if that’s any consolation to you.”
It wasn’t, really, because we ended up having to stop two or three more times later on, but it made me laugh a little at the time.
[Logan] Yeah, I always did wonder where it all came from. It’s not like we had an overabundant food supply, that’s for sure. But she seemed to have a never ending supply of that stuff.
You know, who’s telling this section, you or me?
[Logan] Couldn’t help it.
Right. So, blah, blah, blah, whatever, I threw up a lot. Very funny. Anyway, after that, Lightning slowed down to a kind of cruising speed, which was really nice because it gave us a chance to actually see the landscape we were passing.
At the end of our first day out, we stopped on a deserted section of coastline to eat and sleep. We had used our pockets and a sack we found to stash food liberated from the Cordel marketplace, but neither of us were very hungry. You already know why I wasn’t, but I think it was pretty tough on Logan’s stomach, too. It had been a long day of travel for both of us, and our heads were still spinning as we lay them on the damp sand. I leaned over and told Logan that I was glad I could accompany him on his journey and apologized for slowing us down today. But I think he was falling asleep already, because he just smiled a little, as if to say, “forget it,” and patted me on the shoulder.
Another picture painted as the cover art for “Searching for Forever” (that would have fit in towards the end of the book with Logan and Aurora flying to the new home). Watch it being created below:
There’s an instrumental part to accompany the reading – the backing track of “Searching for Forever” – the 80s inspired ending credits song I envisioned as playing as the story ended. Both the instrumental and vocal versions can be found on the LP, Long Ago Not So Far Away, and below:
Speaking of music, I’ve been going through a number of acoustic guitar songs I used to play a lot when I was first learning how to play, since in this time of national quarantine, I try to do music time with my kids as a part of, you know, daddy daycare. I’ve picked out a few that are more hopeful and positive than the stuff songs are often written about (heartbreak, unrequited love, longing, substance use, and other important adult matters). Anyway, I’ve included one such song (“Flying Free” written by Don Besig) since it is about flying (whether figuratively or literally) free from the constraints that bind us to the earth (again, whether physical or mental).
That’s because today’s Rocketeer segment is also about flying!
Today marks the fourth Rocketeer segment as a part of the podcast. Below are a few previous episodes about the Rocketeer:
This week, we’re discussing this little documentary hosted by Bill Campbell that came out about the same time as the movie (and sadly, not available on any of the official Rocketeer releases). It is part history of flight documentary, part behind the scenes movie making, and part experiential journalism into different modes of flight (including actual rocketpacks).
Suffice to say, real life rocketpacks highlight the myriad limitations such a device would likely entail. But … that’s why we have stories 🙂
We also talked, among other things, about those vague Rocketeer sequel rumors. But, you know what? Even if it never happens, we got a cartoon to introduce a whole new generation to the Rocketeer and an epic rocketpack battle in The Mandalorian:
This little animated .gif is, of course, from the point in the movie where the Rocketeer, not above a little self conscious vanity, asks how he looks. Peevy, not above a little blunt honesty, says “Like a hood ornament!” The Rocketeer blasts off for the first time, Peevy gets blown backwards into the hangar, and I get a name for this part of the podcast!
Stay tuned for more Rocketeer gear talk next week! Stay safe!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week’s show is about clothing – Logan’s Imperial Ranger uniform in Empty Hands and The Thirteenth Hour as well as Cliff’s jacket in the Rocketeer segment (which inspired the way I drew Logan’s costume).
In the first part of the show, I’m reading from a section of The Thirteenth Hour interlude, Empty Hands, which describes what the Imperial Rangers wore for formal uniforms:
The morning of the Drawing was cool and crisp. The last vestiges of winter were still apparent, though you could get by without a coat if you were willing to be a little chilly. For the ceremony, we were supposed to wear our formal uniforms, which we started training in a few days prior. Unlike many things about the Imperial Army, a lot of thought had gone into Imperial Ranger gear, and although there were no surviving craftsmen who knew how to make Imperial Ranger boots, uniforms, and weapons, enough of the old training manuals had survived that the ones in the castle could learn. Compared to the stiff, uncomfortable uniforms the regular Army soldiers wore, the Ranger uniforms were fairly well designed. They were intended to be working uniforms and could look sharp if clean and pressed, but they had both functional and cosmetic purposes due to the Rangers’ multiple roles as soldier, explorer, bodyguard, and diplomat.
As our instructors had said, we did have to move a bit differently when fighting in our uniforms, though not as much as one might have thought. The pants and shirts were baggy and easy to move in, for instance, and the outer tunic that covered the shirt was flexible but offered protection since it was interwoven with a layer of fine-link chain-mail backed by suede to keep the links from embedding in a wound should the chain-mail break. It wasn’t as heavy as wearing a full chain-mail shirt, but it offered disguised protection from glancing strikes to the internal organs of the torso. It wouldn’t stop a point blank shot from a warbow, but then again, there’s a good chance standard plate armor wouldn’t, either.
All this flashed through my head as I raced to get ready that morning. Unlike most days, there had been no early morning conditioning session, so everyone had slept later. My bed was in the corner, and I must have continued sleeping as Blake, who had the top bunk, left with the others for breakfast. When I woke, the position of the sunlight shining in the window let me know immediately that I had overslept, and a glance at the clock in the corner confirmed it was 8:50, meaning I had exactly ten minutes to get to the field where the Drawing would be taking place. Cursing, I ran to the washroom, took care of my morning business, and rummaged through my locker, searching for a uniform that wasn’t crumpled or malodorous. I’d hung up my sweaty uniform in the washroom after yesterday’s practice, but someone must have knocked it over soon after, since now it lay in a crumpled, smelly heap on the floor. We had three each, but my other one smelled even worse, so it took some digging to get to my last one, which was still wrapped in the bag in which it had been issued to me. I raced out the door as soon as I had it on and ran the whole way to the field where the King would be addressing us for the formal commencement of the Drawing.
I was still late.
A concept sketch of the Imperial Rangers wearing the uniforms described above.
Another sketch of Logan flying through the air on Lightning wearing the uniform described above.
There’s a little instrumental part to accompany parts of the story where the Imperial Rangers have to march around (in the LP Long Ago Not So Far Away) that is playing in the background during part of the reading.
Speaking of music, I’ve been going through a number of acoustic guitar songs I used to play a lot when I was first learning how to play, since in this time of national quarantine, I try to do music time with my kids as a part of, you know, daddy daycare. I’ve picked out a few that are more hopeful and positive than the stuff songs are often written about (heartbreak, unrequited love, longing, substance use, and other important adult matters). Anyway, I’ve included one such song (“If We Hold On Together” from the 1988 cartoon, The Land Before Time), as it was co-written by James Horner, who also did the music for, yes, you guessed it, The Rocketeer.
Today’s Rocketeer segment is also about flying – the Rocketeer’s jacket!
Today marks the fourth Rocketeer segment as a part of the podcast. Below are a few previous episodes about the Rocketeer:
This week, we’re discussing Cliff’s jacket – the iconic leather jacket with the front bib making up the front. Although you can totally buy lots of replica jackets, the origin of the jacket is totally unknown to me. I have never exactly been able to find where Dave Stevens got the idea for it but have a few guesses about things he may have been influenced by or watched as a kid:
-Commander Cody serials (which you can totally watch on Youtube) – wears a leather jacket; note the similarities to the Rocketeer’s helmet and double barreled silver rocketpack.
-Westerns, like this shot of John Wayne in Horse Soldiers:
You can see a photo above of Dave Stevens on the right trying on a Rocketeer helmet wearing Cliff’s jacket (he used photos of himself as models for Cliff).
This little animated .gif is, of course, from the point in the movie where the Rocketeer, not above a little self conscious vanity, asks how he looks. Peevy, not above a little blunt honesty, says “Like a hood ornament!” The Rocketeer blasts off for the first time, Peevy gets blown backwards into the hangar, and I get a name for this part of the podcast!
Stay tuned for more Rocketeer gear talk next week! Stay safe!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week’s show is all about flying, both in the traditional part of the podcast as well as in the Rocketeer segment. I’ll always aim for them to be related if possible, since, after all, The Rocketeer was one of the things that influenced the writing and creation of the Thirteenth Hour world.
In the first part of the show, I’m reading from the chapter where the main protagonist, Logan, is gifted a silver hoverboard he calls Lightning that has its own onboard magical “computer” (though that’s never exactly stated), allowing for a kind of magic artificial intelligence, and runs off the power of the sun (again, never exactly stated, at least not in this one).
Just to get us in the mood, I thought I’d include the intro from the 1984 film, The Neverending Story, for the quintessential audiovisual cloudscape experience:
Here is the passage from The Thirteenth Hour:
Lightning beeped cheerfully and drifted slowly forward down the lighted blue pathway that I had walked down earlier. She really picked up speed in the windy section near the entrance. I crouched down low, white–knuckling the board with both hands. Maybe I should have practiced a little first, I began thinking to myself. But Aurora was in trouble, and I needed to concentrate on that. The flight to Cordel would have to be my practice. Lightning shot out of the Palace and began to climb steeply. My heart plummeted into my stomach, and I prayed that we would slow down, eyes shut, knuckles even whiter as I gripped the edges of the board for dear life.
The board beeped then; I opened my eyes slightly, and by shielding them against the torrential winds, I was able to see a message flash across the complicated, yet impressive looking front of the board.
“Relax, Logan! There’s no way you can fall. Both your feet are now strapped in. You can let go of my sides if you want. Have fun!”
I looked down; my right foot was now securely strapped onto the board. I stayed crouched low, but let go of the edges, first one hand, then another. As soon as I did, I felt as if I were going to fall backwards and began to flail my arms. Lightning slowed down a little, allowing me to regain my balance. But at every dip, my stomach felt like it was shooting up to my throat. I wanted to grab onto something solid, but I realized that there was nothing but air to hold onto! In desperation, I gripped the side of the board again, but it didn’t do any good.
“This is harder than I thought!”
Another message flashed across the screen.
“Well, it really isn’t too hard once you get the hang of it. Just relax and let me do the work. Now, how about some aerobatics, my favorite?”
“Uh, wait a minute! Aerobatics? Is that anything like acrobatics? I don’t think I’m ready for that!” I yelled.
“Sure you are! You just don’t know it yet! All you have to do is hang on!” flashed the screen.
I yelled a succession of curses as my stomach shot up to my throat as Lightning spun around three times in succession. The screen read, “Barrel roll maneuvers complete.”
Whatever that meant! She ended up in an inverted position, with me looking at the sea, dizzy. I had paid so much attention to the insides of my eyelids that I hadn’t looked around to notice how high we were. We seemed to be traveling at an insane speed. The waves far below flashed by in a blur. The wind kept getting caught in my gaping mouth and bellowing out my cheeks while I struggled to close my mouth. At one point, I felt like I was going to fall out, dangling only by the straps holding my feet onto the board. Instinctively, I grabbed both sides of the board. Lightning rolled back over, and I breathed easier.
“This might help you out. I am going to deploy an invisible shield that will surround you and myself. It’s just like a big bubble. It will cut air resistance and protect you. And just in case you’re interested, it will prevent you from falling should you manage to slip out of the foot restraints.”
“We couldn’t have done this before?” I croaked, as wind caught in my mouth, hard that time, stunning my vocal chords.
“No, my programming instructs us to be at least fifty miles away from the Palace before I deploy the bubble shield.”
“Why fifty?”
“If I overheat, I could self–destruct. The explosion would level anything in the surrounding area within a fifty mile radius.”
“Self–destruct?” I repeated, horrified.
“The shield has never been tested before. There’s a very slight chance that it will overload my systems.”
“Overload?”
“Is it just me or is there an echo here? It’s alright. The shield’s up now. All systems are operating well within normal limits. However, it’s written in my programming to warn all passengers if they aren’t.”
As if they could do anything about it, except maybe jump off and die hitting the ground instead of in a mid–air explosion. The wind didn’t seem to be blowing as hard now, though I couldn’t see the shield, nor could I feel it. But I noticed that it was much quieter, and I could talk without shouting, although there was still a ringing in my ears from the rushing wind.
“It seems to work,” I said, feeling around tentatively.
I looked back; I couldn’t see the Palace. When I asked how far we were away from it, Lightning flashed across her screen, “About 75 miles right now.”
Jeez, we were going fast. We couldn’t have been in the air very long; under an hour, I guessed. I looked back again and noticed a plume of colored, sparkling mist in our wake. It looked just like a rainbow. I looked under the board; the mist was coming out of three separate locations on Lightning’s bottom side.
“Those are my engines.”
I realized that I had been so caught up in the excitement/horror of my ride with Lightning that I had never even questioned how she generated her power.
As if reading my mind, Lightning flashed, ”I can show you the owner’s manual later that discusses more of the specifics, but for now, all you need to know is that there’s a readout on my display that shows how much power I have left.”
I found the icon on her display, which read 95% power.
“You know, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or anything, because I really appreciate you going fast since you know I’m in a hurry and all, but do you think you could slow down just a little? I think I left my stomach somewhere behind the last mountain.”
“No, according to my scanner, you still have it.”
“Oh … it was just a manner of speaking, you know …”
“A joke?”
I laughed. “Well, almost, I guess.”
“Tell me a joke then.”
“Oh, I don’t know any good ones. When we find Aurora, we’ll ask her. She’ll know some.”
“All right. Nothing like learning how to swim by jumping in the deep end, huh, Logan?”
“Right. Without a lesson.”
“Well, no one ever did learn to swim in a turtle pool.”
“What’s a turtle pool?”
“You never had one of those? One of those little plastic kiddie pools about a foot deep that you fill up with a hose?”
“Plastic? Kiddie pool? Hose?”
“Ehh, never mind. Probably just some stuff that hasn’t been invented yet. One of these days I really have to organize my files.”
“So … how long until we reach Cordel?” I asked.
“About thirty minutes. How do you like flying around like this so far?”
“I like it, especially with the bubble shield.”
“Good! We’ll always fly with it on from now on. I’m glad you like flying! I knew you were a flyer when I first saw you!” flashed the board, with a few friendly beeps.
“We’re going to take a little detour, and I think I’ll throw in a few tricks, just to keep things interesting. Wouldn’t want you to fall asleep or anything!”
“Oh, I really don’t think you’ll have to worry about …”
Just at that second, I tried to scream as Lightning shot upward suddenly, but my voice was still somewhat hoarse. All that came out was some kind of croaking sound. Then she hung a hard right, shot into a loop with a couple of twists thrown in, and straightened out high above the clouds. My stomach, however, took a little longer.
“Guh … give me a minute to recover,” I panted.
“Okay. It’s pretty much a straight trip from here, so we’ll take it easy so you can get used to doing turns and things like that. Of course, you can always count on me to fly, but I thought you’d like to give it a shot yourself.”
By shifting my weight left and right, I was able to make turns. By leaning forwards or backwards, I could either climb or dive. I even tried a tentative loop with all the grace of a one–legged stork.
“Hey, not bad!” flashed the message board. “See, it’s not so hard!”
“I guess …” I said.
“Logan, I know what you need! A little attitude! How about some music? ‘Cause there isn’t much to see up here. Just clouds, and when you’ve seen one, you’ve pretty much seen them all. And there’s nothing like music to boost your confidence!”
“Music?” I asked, a little surprised.
“Yes. One of my unsung talents.”
“Hey, Lightning, that was a joke! Well, kind of, anyway. I think that’s called a pun.”
“Really? Well, see, things are looking up already!”
I heard a sound suddenly. Or sounds, rather, but they were like nothing I had ever heard before. The music sounded slow, at first, then it picked up pace, until the speed of the music matched the speed of our flying. It was strangely futuristic, but at the same time, it seemed like I had always known the melody. [When I was originally writing this passage, I had the melody from When in Rome’s “The Promise” in mind.]
There were words sung, too, but in a language that I neither understood nor wanted to understand; somehow, the mystery of the words added to the mystique of the music. In a way, this is in vain, as my description here will do no justice to the melody, because there are some things that are perhaps impossible to describe in words and are better left unspoken.
I felt, at that moment, an incredible rush of energy and indescribable exhilaration. I felt ready to take on the world – or, at least, a dragon or two. All my fears of flying vanished like the mist of the rainbow behind us. The feeling of gliding through the air with the wind rushing through my hair, sleeves and pant legs flapping back and forth, and the music rushing up to meet my ears was indescribable. But it is perhaps best compared to that day, long ago, when, as I stood at the top of the hill near the castle, looking out at the landscape around – I let the wind take my hand and lead me to dance.
I later wrote a song for Long Ago Not So Far Away about this part of the book that became the song, “I’ll Fly Away.” It has two versions, both below – with varying levels of synth and tempo depending on your mood!
Today’s Rocketeer segment is also about flying – the Rocketeer’s rocketpack!
Today marks the third Rocketeer segment as a part of the podcast. Below are a few previous episodes about the Rocketeer:
This week, we’re discussing three versions of the rocketpack (in descending order below): 1.) the sliver-purple one with fins from the comics, 2.) the finless silver double barrelled Art Deco one from the movie, and 3.) the silver and purple double barrelled one with fins from the cartoon that came out this past fall.
Here are a few design ideas on the gloves and rocketpack from the film, showing the original prototype (closer to Dave Steven’s original drawings), then how it evolved into the double silver bullet shape seen in the film (these come from The Rocketeer Official Movie Souvenir Magazine).
Here are some excerpts from the original comic drawn by Dave Stevens about how the rocket pack was controlled and refueled. (The images below come from The Rocketeer: The Complete Deluxe Edition, which is unfortunately quite difficult to find now – look on Amazon and eBay for used copies at more reasonable prices).
This little animated .gif is, of course, from the point in the movie where the Rocketeer, not above a little self conscious vanity, asks how he looks. Peevy, not above a little blunt honesty, says “Like a hood ornament!” The Rocketeer blasts off for the first time, Peevy gets blown backwards into the hangar, and I get a name for this part of the podcast!
Stay tuned for more Rocketeer gear talk next week! Stay safe!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
On this week’s show, I thought we’d do a little more quarantine / seclusion real talk – specifically on self reflection when alone with your thoughts, as many people are these days, kind of like Logan in one part of The Thirteenth Hour, which we’ll be reading from shortly. We may ignore or put off deep thinking in day to day life, either out of discomfort, fear of what we’ll find, or lack of time. But, on the other hand, sometimes being alone with your thoughts offers the most freedom of expression, since there is no one else to censor your thought process except you (and the voice of society, upbringing, etc – though that’s still you, just your interpretation of those things).
Here are are some of passages from The Thirteenth Hour referenced in the episode:
I don’t know how long I sat there – I was vaguely aware of the sun going down at some point, but my mind wasn’t really on that. I struggled a lot that day, but not with nausea or sleep. I had always been a pretty optimistic person – most dreamers are, I think – and liked to think that people were basically good inside. I wanted to believe that there were happy endings, and that it wasn’t just something people wrote about in books so they could vicariously experience something they never knew in real life. I basically wanted the world to be a good place, or if not good, at least non–imposing, leaving me free to do what I wanted. I had always thought if you left people alone, they’d leave you alone. But that didn’t always happen, did it? It was like being a grain of sand in a desert where a simple gust of wind or footprint could shift the position of the grains all around you, changing your own position. Perhaps accepting that was part of something called growing up, but I sure didn’t have to like it.
If it’s just one person, perhaps life is simpler, but when there is another, things get more complicated. I wanted to believe that love could work out, too, even though I still didn’t really know what it felt like. But I was an optimist and wanted to believe that I would know what love was like one day. But if love meant surrendering part of yourself, could you really do that if you felt ashamed of what you had to give? …
… And though I never asked her to, she came each day after that, even if it was just to sit by me and put cold compresses on my body as I drifted in and out of feverish sleep. Sometimes I wondered why she did, since I had so little to offer in terms of companionship. But finally, one day, the fever broke, and I awoke to find that the pounding in my head had gone. I looked out my window – night. I did not feel like sleeping anymore and began to test my unsteady legs. As I hobbled in and out of the shadows of my darkened cell, I found my mind wondering when Aurora would stop by. Of course, not until daylight, many hours from now, a realization that stung a little at first. But the more I thought about it, the sting became an ache that racked my body painfully until I was forced to sit down on the floor. There, with labored breaths, I thought back on specific things that had happened over the past few weeks, over the past few years, over the course of my life. Then there was a spark, a sudden flash of light, and it all became so clear; I marveled how I could have been so blind.
It was then that I understood why the bards so often sung of love, because for the first time, I actually knew what they were singing about. Because it was then I knew that it was love that I’d been falling into all along; I just hadn’t known enough about it to realize what it was. And then, to my surprise, I rolled over onto the floor and began to cry. Maybe I was happy, maybe I was sad, I didn’t know. But I hadn’t really cried in such a long time that it was like I was experiencing it for the first time. The tears that flowed from my eyes pushed away the dirt and sweat and grime, leaving a clean streak behind, fresh and ready for the future.
(POV change to Aurora) I found him sleeping there on the floor the next morning. He did not stir when I walked in. I knelt down and felt his forehead; the fever had passed. For the first time in many days, he looked like he was at peace. I did not disturb him. But after a few minutes, he opened his eyes and saw me next to him. Then, he sat up slowly, looked at me, and smiled. There was something different in his smile, but I smiled back all the same. And then I knew what it was; he understood! Then we put our arms around each other and stayed that way in that dank, dirty cell for a long, long time.
I wrote a song for Long Ago Not So Far Away about this part of the book that I talked about a little back in episode 51 (recorded around the time I wrote it). The lyrics and associated chords are below:
C There’s this girl that I know G Am Actually, I’ve known her all my life, F It seems, to me.
C G And when she found me, as a child Am F All alone, without a soul, to call my own. C Best friends were we G Am F Did I ever say how much that meant … to me?
C And so … the seasons go G Am Promises of childhood seem so bold. F Can they grow old?
C G Now I hold her hand but Am As an adult man, and something is … F G Different this time.
C That grey dress she wears G Am Seen it a hundred times before F But not like tonight, not like tonight. ‘Cause C There’s a fire in her eyes G Am The wind catches a lock of her hair F And my heart lifts in time. C There’s a smile on her face G Am One I know that time can not erase … F But it feels new.
C G And then all at once, it hits me like a thousand tons Am F How I could’ve been so blind? C G And that’s when I knew why songs are sung of love Am Because, because, because … it was love F C I was falling in … this whole time.
Instrumental: C G Am F C
The album version of the song (instrumental version above):
When I was producing the song, I added more layers and an electric guitar segment to the latter parts of the song to beef up the song what is essentially a four chord folk ballad to create a dichotomy between the slow, tender, piano part with a louder, more biting, aggressive part reminiscent of an 80s metal ballad. I wanted it to be that way to capture the balance between Logan’s tender realization in a time of vulnerability contrasted with the flash of insight that he must lift himself up out of a hole in the ground (quite literally – he is a dungeon, after all) with his strength of will.
Today also marks the second Rocketeer segment as a part of the podcast. Below are a few episode mentions about the Rocketeer prior to last week’s show on Cliff Secord’s biography:
This week, I’m reading from some of Dave Stevens’ handwritten notes on the backstory he created for Cliff to give depth to the character and explain some of the motivations Cliff had (which, admittedly, were somewhat self serving). This comes from The Rocketeer: The Complete Deluxe Edition, which is unfortunately quite difficult to find now but has pages and pages of storyboards (like the one below) and notes from Dave Stevens on the characters and story he wanted to create.
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
Hope your new year is off to a good start. In this episode, I continue with the theme started last year about discussing new year’s goals. I’ve been working on a part of The Thirteenth Hour sequel draft where the main characters, Logan and Aurora, are making a life for themselves on a little seemingly secluded island, and towards the end of The Thirteenth Hour, they plan how they’re going to do that. It fits the general theme of making new year’s plans, so I’m reading a few excerpts from that part of the book today.
Again, best wishes in all your creative pursuits in 2020!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’m continuing reading a few more chapters of the novelization of the movie Spacecamp, one of my favorite movies as a kid. This one is aimed at slightly older readers and is written by Joe Claro – every now and then, you can find one used on eBay or Amazon. I’m curious to see how the novelization fares after a few decades. The last time I rewatched the film, I still remember quite liking it (posted my reflections here back on episode 154). In this week’s show, the campers have to figure out how to get back home!
Some black and white photos from the book going with this week’s episode:
Happy new year, people!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’m continuing reading a few more chapters of the novelization of the movie Spacecamp, one of my favorite movies as a kid. This one is aimed at slightly older readers and is written by Joe Claro – every now and then, you can find one used on eBay or Amazon. I’m curious to see how the novelization fares after a few decades. The last time I rewatched the film, I still remember quite liking it (posted my reflections here back on episode 154). In this week’s show, the campers get launched into space! Check out the lack and white photos from the film up to this point in the story:
To be continued next week! Happy holidays, people!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’m continuing reading a few more chapters of the novelization of the movie Spacecamp, one of my favorite movies as a kid. This one is aimed at slightly older readers and is written by Joe Claro – every now and then, you can find one used on eBay or Amazon. I’m curious to see how the novelization fares after a few decades. The last time I rewatched the film, I still remember quite liking it (posted my reflections here back on episode 154). In this week’s show, there are a few unrealistic training sequences that definitely were not in the actual Spacecamp! (But they’re still fun to think about).
I gotta say, if you’re going to make a logo, this is how you do it.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’m taking a break from song writing to read from a book I haven’t looked at in years – one of the two novelizations I own of the movie Spacecamp, one of my favorite movies as a kid. This one is aimed at slightly older readers and is written by Joe Claro – every now and then, you can find one used on eBay or Amazon. I’m curious to see how the novelization fares after a few decades. The last time I rewatched the film, I still remember quite liking it (posted my reflections here back on episode 154). It’s interesting, nonetheless, to think how the film might have done had it come out a few years earlier (or maybe a few years later), since regardless of the ’86 Challenger explosion, it inspired a whole generation of kids who saw it and became interested in science, aviation, and/or space exploration. To be con’t next week!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I start work on a new ballad written from the perspective of Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour from this passage in the book where our young protagonists are starting to realize that there might be more to their relationship than just friendship (The Thirteenth Hour is occasionally told from multiple perspectives; boldedblack portions of the text below indicate a perspective change from Aurora to Logan):
I hadn’t seen much of Logan the whole dance; he’d been whisked away by an overzealous female flamingo as soon as the dance had started. The last I saw, he was listening to the animated hoots and squawks of the backflipping chimpanzee after they’d had a backflip contest which ended in a tie.
The more I looked for him, the harder he was to find. I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of jealousy. After all, we’d come here together. We should have at least once dance. For some reason, that seemed important … I couldn’t explain, but I hoped he would understand.
The animal band suddenly announced that this would the last song, and when the crowd protested, they promised to make it extra–long and slow. Great. These were the kind of songs that required a partner. And if you were a girl and didn’t have one, like me, you either stood marooned on the floor, awkwardly waiting for someone to ask you to dance or retreated to the sidelines. I looked around for awhile but could not find Logan. As I sighed and turned to walk to the side, suddenly he was right there, alone. Among all the faces swimming around my eyes, I saw only his. He didn’t ask if I wanted to dance; he just took my hand, and we joined in the crowd.
“There’s something …” we both said at precisely the same instant. And then we both laughed. “… that I wanted to tell you,” we both finished.
There were a few seconds of silence. I felt like there was an invisible wall that my words had to get over … if I could get them over that barrier, everything would be fine. But I couldn’t do it, at least not yet. Finally I gave a sheepish grin and a sideways nod that said “maybe you better go first.”
“Well, back when I was talking to the unicorn – you know, the Lord of the Earth, he offered to see into my future. And the fortune said in the very near future I’d be married. Can you believe it? Can you imagine me, married?”
I thought for a second. There were a couple of places I could go from there, but I chose the semi–safe route. “I think I can, but … what made you think of that just now?”
“Well, I really wanted to tell you at the baths. But then we got interrupted. And then, at dinner, there was so much going on, and I kinda forgot. And then I saw you just now and, I dunno, that’s what I thought of. I don’t know why, I guess.”
“Did the Lord say to whom?”
“No, he didn’t say.”
“Didn’t or wouldn’t?”
“Wouldn’t. I did try asking.”
“You must have been surprised. You sound surprised.”
“I was. I just never really thought about it before. Maybe it would be nice, if you found the right person, but finding that person … I dunno, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
He wasn’t taking the bait, and I couldn’t really blame him. It was kind of a long shot. Guys weren’t great with these kinds of things, anyway. Still, it never hurt to try. “You really think it would be so hard to find the right person?”
“Well, how many girls have I really known?” I shrugged and laughed, looking down at Aurora’s feet. “I mean, who would I marry, you?”
Ouch …
I regretted it the moment I said it. I’d been joking, but hadn’t meant it to come out like that. If there was any girl I did have feelings for, Aurora certainly would’ve been the one, but to marry someone, you had to love them, didn’t you? I still didn’t really know what that was. There was an awkward silence. I laughed a little and felt like an idiot. Aurora laughed, too, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should have just kept my mouth shut.
It was alright, and I said so. Like I said, it was a long shot, and even I didn’t understand the weird mess of feelings inside. But I was forced at that moment to admit that they were there. Things were changing, and I was falling.
“ … but you said that you had something to say, too?” Logan asked.
I just shook my head and looked down at the spinning dance floor. It made me dizzy, and I looked back up at Logan. He was just tall enough so I had to look up a little to meet his gaze but not so tall that I couldn’t rest my head on his shoulder, if the time were right for that. I didn’t, though. Instead, I looked into his eyes but could not tell what he was thinking. I did my best to smile, and we danced that way until the song ended.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I take a trip back to 1989 in reading a Choose Your Own Adventure book – Master of Kung Fu by Richard Brightfield and illustrated by Frank Bolle. It’s a real blast from the blast – a true mish-mash of 80s Asian tropes, including most of the stuff that permeated martial arts films at the time. Some of it is truly, well, cringeworthy, like some of the 80s kung fu and ninja flicks back then … but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I thought these books were the bee’s knees in 1989 so I’m going to try to suspend, you know, reality (at least in an adult sense), and appreciate this with the mind of an elementary school age child (which makes it awesome again).
By the way, speaking of kung fu and ninjas, yes, they’re both in this book. Yes, I know it’s talking about China and kung fu and white lotus societies. There are still ninjas (suspend judgement, suspend judgement, suspend judgement, ok? Ninjutsu has some roots in Chinese martial arts, and it all goes back to India and Tibet, anyway, so … you know, just go with it).
Yup, straight out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – totally not joking … one of the more cringeworthy parts … product of the times.
Basically sums up the 80s ninja craze – stick ’em everything! Especially wearing the black PJs in broad daylight, since you know, that blends in so well. It all made more sense in 1989.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
For this week, I’m doing the rare in-person podcast with guest host Adam Crohn from AC Toy Design (a.k.a. @mom_gave_them_away on Instagram), who’s been on this show a number of times before (see episodes 144 and 145 plus episodes 159, 160, 161, and 162 on four Arnold Schwarzenegger 80s movies). I happened to be in Chicago for work, so Adam was gracious enough to take time out of his day to show us around the city and record a few shows. On this week’s show, we are discussing the process of our resin casting projects – both of us in the last year or so have created minifigures and spend much of the episode comparing and contrasting our experiences. Lots of great discussion on 80s throwbacks as well as toy design and creation.
See below for some pictures of the figures we made:
If you’d like to pick up one of these figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there. The glow in the dark figures are currently done. The painted minifigures will be available shortly.
**A few of the other links we discussed on the show:
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I recorded a session after happening on a grand piano at a hotel this past week. I tried to play a bunch of Thirteenth Hour song riffs continuously, kind of like how old musicals used to do a medley as the credits rolled.
I stopped the recording in the middle since a gentleman stopped to ask what the song was and to say he’d liked it (thanks, mystery gentleman, it was The Thirteenth Hour theme!). I’m generally horrendous at self promotion in day to day life.But, I suppose I should probably work on it more consistently. So you’ll notice a few new things this episode – a standardized outro with reminders of social media and other presences as well as a virtual tip jar courtesy of www.ko-fi.com.
Speaking of music, if you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’m wrapping up the track from last week, “The Skipping Stone” as well as a few updates on the minifigures that I’ve been working on for the past year or so. All the nonpainted ones are packed up and ready to go. Here are a preliminary shots!
I’m still working on the painted ones:
The finalized track for “The Skipping Stone” will be up on bandcamp soon (once I make some cover art).
Speaking of music, if you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’m reading from a short excerpt from The Thirteenth Hour sent to a draft of a music track I just wrote to score this particular passage. It was done on the iOS app, Auxy, and was meant to be an ambient, introspective instrumental piece. Because skipping stones feature in the excerpt a few times, I tried to find synthesizer effects that sounded like splashes of water.
The man from the Army was already waiting at the doorway. The Army man looked a little surprised when he saw me, possibly because of my height. He stood outside in the hallway while I “got my things in order.” But there was really nothing more to do, and I was just stalling for time.
Aurora stood in front of me, waiting as I fumbled with the knot on the bundle that held my belongings: a spare set of underpants, a few pairs of (holey) socks, and my two best skipping stones. They were both smooth and flat, but one was sandy colored and the other dark blue. The sandy one I had found a long time ago on a shallow river bottom. It was just the right size and weight, and despite numerous throws and temporary losses, I had somehow always managed to recover it. The dark blue one had been Aurora’s. She made me take it. Like mine, it was of perfect shape and size except that there was even a little notch on one corner that you could fit your finger in to put more spin on the stone as you threw it. She had been delighted to find it, and we both knew it was special. Special things have a way of falling out of your hands when you least expect it, but she always found it again and said it brought good luck. When said she wanted me to have it, I protested relentlessly, saying that if she gave it away, what would bring her good luck now? She gently but firmly closed my hands over it, and that was the end of that.
When I was younger, one of my favorite storybooks in the orphanage library had a picture in it that I’ll always remember. It was about a little bear leaving home to go to school for the first time. Before the little bear left, the mama bear looked down, held her son’s shoulders with her paws, saying, “Be brave now,” and kissed his forehead. I had never seen a bear, had no idea whether they could talk, if they wore clothes, if went to school, or if they kissed like people did. But that’s what Aurora did just then. After Mrs. Brunscomb, she certainly didn’t need to straighten out my collar or comb my hair, but she did kiss my head, and said, “Well, time to go. You’ll be brave now, I know you will.”
It did kind of make me feel like a kid, but then, in many ways, I still was one. I’d even had to promise myself that I wouldn’t cry, that I’d make a good showing at least until I got outside. After that, all bets were off, but as long as I could make it till I was alone, everything would be alright. So over and over, I repeated to myself the line that the orphanage nurse always used when a boy came in with an injury. “Come on now. Be strong. Real men don’t cry.” And I really wanted to be a real man, but I’d had precious few role models to go by.
When I looked up at Aurora, there were big tears rolling down her cheeks. She gave me a sad little smile, and that was it for me; I couldn’t help it. I tried a trick that never really works–I opened my eyes really wide, looking around the room. I tried to smile back, failed, and turned around quickly.
“You all set there?” asked the Army recruiter. “Don’t look back. Say, what kinda place is this anyway? I didn’t pay any attention when I walked in. Seems kinda depressing. Too dark for me.”
“It’s an orphanage,” I said softly.
The man opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, then shut it. He was quiet for a minute, then said, “Then who were those people back there? I thought the old lady was your mom and that gal was your big si …”
“Just a friend,” I cut in quickly.
“Shit, sorry, kid, I didn’t realize. Well, we’ll make a big man outta you, don’t you worry,” he said, slapping my shoulder; I nearly took a tumble onto the stone floor.
We reached a big cart attached to four horses. He opened a door in the back. “Get in, and make yourself comfortable,” he said, shaking his head with a laugh.
I looked in the cart, jammed packed with men on wooden benches. They were all quiet, looking tired and depressed. A few of them waved a little and tried to make some room, but there wasn’t any to spare, so I sat on the dirty floor in between the legs of the men and their bags. The recruiter closed the door, locked it, and disappeared from sight. The cart had no windows except for a small one by the door, letting in a little sunlight.
From my seat on the floor, I could see our window–Aurora’s and mine–on the second floor. I strained to get up to see if she was there but could not move. Suddenly, just when the cart began to move slowly forward, I saw her. She opened the window, leaned her elbows on the sill, and looked out.
My hand closed over the skipping stone she had given me; it felt cool and solid against my hand, as if it would always stay the same. I pulled my knees in, wrapping my arms around, trying to hide my head like I had done on that day, so many years ago, when I’d met Aurora, sitting on my new bed, wondering where I was. But this time, she wasn’t there.
Speaking of music, if you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, we’re doing a reading of a short children’s book, “The Princess Knight” by fantasy author Cornelia Funke. It’s a modern fairy tale, and a good one for the little girls in your life (good for boys, too). Check out this page to take a look at some of the whimsical illustrations inspired by medieval tapestries and this link to find a copy of the book.
——-
If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!
You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.
Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’m reading a short excerpt from the martial arts novella, Empty Hands, as a follow up to last week’s episode on the Dungeons and Dragons influences. This section touches on the five elements in nature (more back in episode 151) and how they fit the characters:
Jake and Aurora both fell into a character class Wally the wizard had called the “earth type.” As the guys had mentioned, we’d done a little presentation detailing our strengths and weaknesses early in our training (I had to do mine twice since I didn’t understand the assignment the first time and had instead talked about Aurora). Wally used that assignment to go into something he called “The Elemental School of Personality Assessment,” which he said was an important part of not only our magical studies but our training in general. There were five main personality types corresponding to the five divisions of elemental forces in nature – earth, water, wind, fire, and space, as well as an infinite combination of blends.
Pure earth types were grounded, practical people who, like strongly rooted trees, were good at weathering the vicissitudes of life but could be a bit stubborn at times. Dependable, practical, and steady types like Jake and Ben fell into that category. Pure water types were kind of the opposite – adaptable and fluid, like water conforming to whatever container it finds itself in, though they could be a bit all over the place. Phil, an easy-going sort who tended to go with the flow, fit this category. He was not, however, a fickle person, prompting Wally to categorize him as an earth-water blend.
“You mean like mud?” Phil had said when Wally passed him the sheet of paper containing his alignment and its characteristics.
We’d laughed, but then Wally shrugged. “Water is flexible, but it can be hard, if the force is right. Earth is not fluid but mixed with a little water, it moves easily from one place to the next until it dries. Too much, though, and it just becomes dirty water. Do you get my drift?”
“Um … no,” Phil had said after a long pause.
“You will. For now, it basically means you have the best of both worlds.” Then to all of us, he said, “Keep in mind these are just predictions. It’s up to you to figure out if they’re accurate and how to apply the knowledge to your training.”
Like Phil, Aron also ended up a blend – part water and part wind. Pure wind types, like Allan, were open-minded and peaceful. Like birds soaring above the clouds, the day-to-day troubles of the earth-bound held little meaning for them. They craved freedom, which fit Aron, but could be a bit impractical and out of touch with reality (definitely Aron and sometimes Allan, who preferred to think everything through prior to acting on anything). Pure fire types, like Lance and Blake, were no-nonsense folk who believed the best defense was a good offense. It was pretty clear that dynamic, straight-forward weapons like the bow and sword fit guys like that. The downside of fire, of course, was that not all problems could be solved in direct ways.
That left the last category, which Wally had initially called “empty space.” Aron had burst out laughing at this, muttering something about it being the one that fit me best, and the others had joined in. Wally silenced them, then paused and said that, actually, Aron might have been right for once. This caused me to redden in anger and disappointment as Aron went bug-eyed and laughed hard enough to fall out of his chair.
It wasn’t like I was especially taken with any of the previous categories, but as the youngest and physically smallest of the Rangers, it would have been nice to not be different at something – anything – for once. I didn’t really care about not being able to run, swim, climb, fight, navigate, or use magic as well as the others. Unlike some, I couldn’t imagine myself “a career man,” so excelling at soldiering skills (assuming I lived long enough), seemed a bit irrelevant for me and my life in the long run. Frankly, I couldn’t have cared less whether I fit earth, wind, water, fire, or some blend of the four – but “empty space?” Come on!
As if reading my thoughts, Wally frowned and said, “Empty space is perhaps not the right term. The magic books sometimes use the word void (which produced a burst of hoots from Aron), but that, too, has always seemed a poor choice. It’s …” he frowned, sighed, then continued. “At some point in the future, science will catch up to what we wizards have known for eons – that all matter is composed of tiny particles too small to see. They are the essence, the anima, that gives substance and life to all things in the natural world. And, as such, particles from the void can become any of the four. Add enough of them packed together, and they become earth. Space them out far enough, they become wind. Push them a bit closer together, they reform as water. Add a bolt of lightning or some other energy source, and they become fire.”
Allan nodded, saying, “Most interesting. So this is the essence we harness when we generate magic.”
“Exactly! You are pulling directly from the void,” Wally said.
There was silence for a time as we mulled this over. Finally, Jake turned around in his seat and looked at me with his steady, cool brown eyes. “I’m sorry we laughed, Logan. It was wrong of us.”
I reddened further and stared down at my notebook, doodling with my piece of charcoal. “It’s okay,” I finally said, still avoiding Jake’s eyes. When I look back on that experience, I wish I had met and held the man’s gaze to let him know I appreciated his apology. But … there are some things I suppose that only come with age.
After a moment, Aron asked quietly, “So … do you think there’s maybe a little void somewhere in me?”
Wally rolled his eyes and said “Aron, be grateful for what you have.” After the lesson finished, Wally handed me the piece of paper containing information on my alignment. On the side, he had written:
Read this over, and see if you think it fits. Find me if you have any questions.
~Wally
P.S. The woman you told us about from your town – the one you grew up with – sounds like more of an earth type, though at least from your description, she sounds like an earth – void blend. I can see why you would enjoy her company. Hope that gives you some more information about yourself that will be helpful in the coming months.
To be honest, it wasn’t then, but looking back years later, it sure has been.
Here’s a little character sketch I did about a year ago (a little different from their final iteration) when I was coming up with the ideas presented above:
—————–
This page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a “starving artist” section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities. Use the code “Thirteen” when you sign up to get 300 extra points. The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
On this week’s episode, we’re reading from an illustrated children’s retelling of an African folk tale, Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters written and illustrated by John Steptoe, two years before his untimely passing in 1989. Fantasy and fairy tales seem to be more often associated with Western Europe, but the reasons for that have always seemed more coincidental and historical than intentional; all cultures have their own myths and legends. And though there are no faeries in this story, this story has many of the characteristics of a fairy tale.
Below are some of the wonderfully detailed paintings that the author did that adorn each page:
You can also hear this story and see all the pictures in this Reading Rainbow episode.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Awayis now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hourplaylist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
We’re going to take a break from figure making this week to read a bit from The Thirteenth Hour to give a little background to the subject of the Dungeons and Dragons campaign my brother and I have been doing the last few weeks. The passage I read is from the very beginning of the book and describes a little about why he is as he is.
Here’s an excerpt from the setting to the Roll20 D and D game, The Case of the Almost Assassination, which is about how King Darian almost meets an untimely demise!
Three evenings before Immortality Day, there has been an attempt on King Darian IV’s life!
Can Lester LeFoe and Claudia Copperhoof, ace investigators of the LeFoe Detective Agency, find the would-be killers and root out the conspiracy?
The game is afoot!
THE SETTING
Tartec, capital of the Tartec Kingdom, is a crowded city of 150,000 nestled against the banks of the Blue River. It is the seat of power for the so-called “immortal” King Darian IV, who supposedly discovered the secret of eternal life – a mysterious potion known only as “coffee” – a few years ago. The city is one of harsh rules and regulations, with a visible distinction between the rich and poor. Tartec’s wealthy live in the splendid neighborhoods of High Town, located along the northern and western walls, while the regular and poor folk reside in the much dingier Low Town, which borders the southern and eastern docks. In the center of town is Lura’s Square, a marketplace, park and one of the few areas where different social classes freely mingle.
Thanks to strict laws instituted by King Darian, intimate contact between unmarried men and women in Tartec is frowned upon, and harsh punishments await any persons found bootlegging, gambling or engaged in otherwise “untrustworthy” activities. Despite this, it is widely known that secret dens of vice can be found in Low Town if you know where to look, and rumor has it the nobles of High Town have many shady secrets nestled within their giant manors.
In recent months, King Darian has sent his armies and Imperial Rangers out across the world to search for the secret of eternal youth, since immortality is not enough if you can’t be young to enjoy it. Perhaps inspired by rumors of a young man riding a “magical board” that have been floating around the capital for some time, he has created an army Science Division to study strange, unearthed relics from another time, or perhaps another continent. Finally, he has assimilated many nearby territories, leading to an influx of refugees in the capital city. The most notorious of these newly acquired lands is Neva, a territory bordering the Great Desert that was formerly ruled by the notorious Gostantin Crime Family.
At the time of our story, it is three days before Immortality Day, the annual holiday created by King Darian to celebrate his discovery of the mystical coffee brew. At the LeFoe Detective Agency, located along 1 Willow Ave in Low Town, a mysterious case awaits!
Listen or watch the replays of these episodes (each around 2 hrs) by clicking on the pictures below:
And if you enjoy the idea of being read to (even if you are an adult, when people seldom read to you an anymore), check out actor and former Reading Rainbow host Levar Burton’s podcast, where he reads short stories accompanied by music and sound effects.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Awayis now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on iTunes and Stitcher.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, we are reading from a little blast from the past that I first encountered as a kid. It’s a little slice of the early 80s called Chip Mitchell: The Case of the Stolen Computer Brains, about a middle school age boy named Chip who uses a personal computer in his bedroom (big deal in 1982) to solve crimes and various other problems in his neighborhood.
It was written by computer educator pioneer Fred D’Ignazio (more here) and illustrated by Larry Pearson. Although quite difficult to find today (eBay and Amazon have a few used copies sometimes), this book and its sequels (which are even harder to find) are a treat for folks nostalgic for an era of dimly lit arcades when games only cost a quarter, dark skating rinks with flashing multicolored lights and pulsing music, the promise and hope as we looked ahead into what computers would do for us amid the secrecy of the Cold war, and the pixelated graphics of early video games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders. (Click on the images below for more nostalgia.)
So tune in this week as Chip, his pals, and his personal computer, Hermes (who can talk, has a robot arm, and a modem – remember, this was 1982) try to out outwit a university supercomputer (that probably took up a whole room at the time) in a test of speed and programming skill akin to something out of War Games or Real Genius.
Some images from the book:
This is the computer problem that is referenced in the book – some Cold war era cloak and dagger stuff.
Chip and Legs are on the right, Kate and her gang on the left (these are the characters referenced in this story).
Included this part (from a different part of the book) since I couldn’t resist sticking in the part about the synthesizer (way before the sound card era).
Lastly, speaking of synths and pixels, this podcast now has a new logo for 2018. I figured that since fantasy, scifi, and electronic music collide so frequently here, why not showcase these things with background art for Long Ago Not So Far Away and the pixelart dragon I made for that vaporware Thirteenth Hour game I worked on when I probably should have been studying for math tests or something 🙂
Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Awayis now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, we are reading from The Unicorn Treasury, compiled and edited by author Bruce Coville and illustrated by Tim Hildebrandt.
The short story we’re reading from is called “The Court of the Summer King,” by fantasy author Jennifer Roberson. Here are some illustrations from the story:
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Awayis now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
Today’s show is a reading from an illustrated children’s book version of the fairy tale, “Swan Lake,” accompanied by the music from the suite by Tchaikovsky. It comes from a book written by ballerina Margot Fonteyn and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, whose work has been featured many times here. Although maybe not a fairy tale with the same vintage as, say, the Grimm’s tales, at this point, I think the tale penned by Tchaikovsky for the ballet has all the elements of a traditional fairy tale, and at this point, is sufficiently old and famous enough to be timeless. This version has Hyman’s usual beautiful illustrations, some of which are below:
The reading is set to a truncated version of the Swan Lake Score (was looking for one that was about 30 minutes):
The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to the retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
Today’s episode is a discussion on rewatching the animated film, Fire and Ice, directed by Ralph Bakshi and produced by him and Frank Frazetta, who provided many of the character designs. My brother, Jeremy, and author Chad Derdowski came on the show after watching the film to give our reflections (click on the movie poster below, painted by Frank Frazetta, to get a copy of your own):
-Not that it needs one, but Fire and Ice may get a remake (allegedly … supposedly … possibly … you know how these things go). Some concept art here.
-Dark Wolf later inspired a similarly clad comic hero called Jaguar God … the first issue cover was a borrowed Frazetta painting.
-Despite different directors and different studios/animation styles, you can buy the whole (well, kind of) animated Lord of the Rings saga:
And a bit on the Dark Wolf character from the film, which we touched on during previous episodes Chad featured in (hear parts 1 and 2 here) – a combo of a “sword and sorcery” Batman (as Jeremy put it) crossed with the Death Dealer character Frazetta created and painted numerous times:
Lastly, I leave you this image of Blackstar, a similarly clad figure that went with a sword and sorcery cartoon of the same era about an astronaut that lands on an alien planet. He has a tagline that reads “Astronaut defender of freedom with glow in the dark star sword.” Does it get any more 80s than that? 🙂 (You can watch the series on youtube.)
And if you like sword and sorcery, check out Chad’s books! The following tracks were inspired by them:
I’ll end with more info on where you can find the book that inspired these tracks:
The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
Not long after author Chad Derdowski came on the show this summer (hear parts 1 and 2 here), talking about his brilliantly humorous … oh, how shall we say, R-rated Choose-Your- Own-Adventure-style book, Fortune Favors the Bold, I wondered what a soundtrack to the book might sound like. Something out of an 80s movie, I thought, like Ladyhawke or Legend. And then, the muse struck. Of course, it was in an inconvenient place (in the shower), but as soon as I could, I found a keyboard and tapped out the little theme that formed the backbone of these two tracks.
I got Chad’s input and okay to proceed, then went to town. He didn’t put me up to this or anything, and I didn’t want him to think I was trying to steal his creations … I guess in the tradition of fanfiction, you could call this “fanmusic?” =) Anyway, I talk more about the creation of the tracks, called “Gleam of the Widowmaker” and “One Adventures Ends, Another Begins” on the episode and read a few choice bits from the book which inspired the tracks, which you can listen to below or by clicking on the song titles above.
The latter track was made on the iOS app Auxy, like “Flight of the Cloudrider” (listen here or see the music video below) and “There is Magic Inside.” You can learn more about Auxy, download a copy to your phone, and Henrik Lenberg, the creator of the program, by clicking on the highlighted links.
By the way, in case you are curious, here is a youtube tutorial that shows a little about how to use Auxy:
And here are some screenshots from “One Adventure Ends, Another Begins”:
If you enjoy synthesizer music, creating it, or just living your life as if it were accompanied to an 80s soundtrack, check out this great synthwave playlist on Spotify curated by Preston Cram.
I’ll end with more info on where you can find the book that inspired these tracks:
The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
Today’s podcast is the double fairy tale reading of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” and “The Six Swans” (a version of which was featured on episode 97) from The Candlewick Book of Fairy Tales by Sarah Hayes and illustrated by PJ Lynch (see the some of his wonderfully detailed illustrations below):
By the way, there’s a new section to the show: if you ever have a question or something you’d like to hear addressed, read, or discussed on the show, just comment in the show notes or email. Same goes for a guest you’d like to see on.
Speaking of which, in the next few week, we’ll be hearing from author and illustrator Chad Derdowski as well as musician and now drone pilot Brent Simon, who we first heard about in the interview with Jeff Finley! Stay tuned!
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today’s podcast is the reading of a fairy tale called “The Tinder Box” from The Fairy Tale Book by Marie Ponsot (translator) and Adrienne Segur (illustrator) from The Golden Book of Fairy Tales. You can read the tale in full (as written by Hans Christian Andersen) here. There is even a commentary with history and analysis here.
One of the illustrations from the tale:
By the way, there’s a new section to the show: if you ever have a question or something you’d like to hear addressed, read, or discussed on the show, just comment in the show notes or email. Same goes for a guest you’d like to see on.
Speaking of which, next week, we’ll be hearing from author and illustrator Missy Sheldrake, who came on the show about a year ago.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
In today’s show, I’m talking about some previews coming from a draft I’m working on for the sequel(s) to The Thirteenth Hour, some of which takes place in a technologically advanced world with strange aspects of future life, like fanciful ways to get around.
A vapor rider is basically a magic powered boat with hydrofoils that allows it to skim across the surface of the water.
A cloud rider is magic powered flying wing to skim above the clouds.
You can see both vapor riders and cloud riders in the title graphic above.
Over the next few months, we’ll occasionally be reading from these old Zork stories, which essentially function as Choose Your Own Adventure style game books. Just like that series, there are decision points requiring you to go to different points in the book and black and white inked illustrations for many of the pages. I think these books are long out of print, but click on the image of the book below to see if you can find a used copy of your own.
The synthesizer music in between the sequel updates and the Zork reading is courtesy of Brent Simon, an internet sensation from the mid 2000s (yes, his music clips from his old MySpace age still miraculously work). You’ll hear more about him in a few weeks. Jeff Finley, who made a documentary about his friend that made it big a number of years ago, will be coming on the show in a few weeks!
Speaking of music, episode 100 will have more details about an upcoming EP, the sequel to Long Ago Not So Far Away. Podcast listeners get first dibs! Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs. Check it out!
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and @the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today’s podcast is the reading of a fairy tale “The Wild Swans” from The Fairy Tale Book by Marie Ponsot (translator) and Adrienne Segur (illustrator). There’s an updated version called The Golden Book of Fairy Tales.
We’ll read from it a few times in the future. It was one I recalled from childhood and has some wonderfully detailed illustrations with a number of traditional fairy tales, meaning that they aren’t the sanitized Disney versions. In fact, the worlds the characters inhabit are often cruel, and although they often do have happy endings, the characters really do go through a lot of pain and suffering to get there. Case in point:
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today’s episode is #3 in a three part telling of a fantasy short story by Ed Greenwood about Elminster the mage from the TSR Forgotten Realms anthology Realms of Valor. In this episode, Elminster meets his match and is helped by a friend. There’s also an afterword that talks about how Ed Greenwood and many others created the Forgotten Realms universe – essentially an open source multisite project spanning decades.
Found this funny picture with a quote from our man of the hour. I guess when you have lived 5 centuries, it’s easy to be zen about such things.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today’s episode is #2 in a three part telling of a fantasy short story by Ed Greenwood about Elminster the mage from the TSR Forgotten Realms anthology Realms of Valor. In this episode, we find out why his going to the mage Con creates such havoc. My daughter refers to him as a “trouble maker.” But he’s sufficiently well known, trouble maker or not, to have his own wikipedia entry, where you can learn about him and his creator, Ed Grrenwood:
This illustration is from the cover of a companion to Realms of Valor, called Realms of Magic.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today’s episode is a three part telling of a fantasy short story by Ed Greenwood about Elminster the mage from the TSR Forgotten Realms anthology Realms of Valor. He’s apparently a kind of Gandalf -like figure in the Forgotten Realms D and D world. In this episode, he goes to a wizards’ convention, and trouble finds him.
This picture by Ned Dameron shows Elminster and his travelling companion and bodyguard, Storm Silverhand.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today’s episode is part 2 of the fantasy short story from the TSR Forgotten Realms anthology Realms of Valor, “The Bargain” by Elaine Cunningham. It centers around a half elf character called Arilyn Moonblade and her companion, Danilo Thann, and in the episode, we learn why the story is called as it is. If you missed the previous episode, here it is.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today’s episode continues the theme of the last two weeks – reading aloud a fantasy short story from the TSR Forgotten Realms anthology Realms of Valor. This one is called “The Bargain” by Elaine Cunningham and centers around a half elf character called Arilyn Moonblade and her companion, Danilo Thann. Here a pic of the two striking heroic poses, painting by Fred Fields:
So, like the last two weeks, listen along as I continue to butcher the names left and right and try to avoid putting in running commentary when I don’t understand something. I’m getting a bit better. I think if I had started with stories like these when I was a kid instead of books that just had cool covers, I might have made out better with fantasy in general.
To be continued next week!
The first page of the story had this title illustration by Ned Dameron. He did a number of illustrations for the Dark Tower books if that name rings a bell.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today’s episode continues where we left off last week (in the reading of “Dark Mirror” by R.A Salvatore from the anthology Realms of Valor) as Drizzt, the dark elf, and his magic panther with the unpronounceable name continue their travails to free a band of prisoners from some bad, bad creatures.
So, like last week, listen along as I continue to butcher the names left and right and try to avoid putting in running commentary when I don’t understand something. But, the great thing about this story is that although it starts off simple enough, like a traditional fantasy story with the bad guys (orcs) and the good guys (human farmers), it becomes less and less clear as the tale progress who the good and bad creatures actually are. I feel like if I had read more of this breed of fantasy story when I was a kid, I might have had a better time with the genre in general. Oh well.
Apologies for the audio quality on this episode. I had a lot of trouble recording for some reason. The only way to get rid of the weird buzzing in the background was to try to clean up the audio enough it softens parts a bit too much.
I finally found the artist, Todd Lockwood, who did the great picture, entitled “Orc King,” from last week’s show notes. Click on the full picture below to go to his website:
The first page of the story had this title illustration by Ned Dameron, which makes a little more sense this week than it did last week. He did a number of illustrations for the Dark Tower books if that name rings a bell.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today’s episode starts a two part reading of a short story called “Dark Mirror” by fantasy author R.A. Salvatore from the D and D Forgotten Realms world. It comes from a compilation of short stories in the book Realms of Valor. Listen along as I butcher the names left and right and try to avoid putting in running commentary (everything probably would make more sense if I were more familiar with the world or Dungeons and Dragons). I enjoyed it, though – I feel that since I write in this genre, I should at least try to educate myself a little … This story, which we’ll finish next week, has the popular dark elf character, Drizzt. (I mangle his name, too, and holy smokes, forget about his cat’s name. I tried.)
The first page had this title illustration by Ned Dameron.
To be continued next week!
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
In honor of International Women’s Day (3/8/17), a few weeks ago, we read some stories about heroines from a book called The Serpent Slayer And Other Stories of Strong Women by Katrin Tchana and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. (See Episodes 84 and 85). Today’s tale from the same volume has more of a humorous spin about two teenagers who fall in love at first sight and rely on the wee folk to make things right. It reminds me of something Disney would have put out in the mid 90s (for better or worse). As usual, the illustrations are wonderful:
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
This week, we’re reading an Armenian tale called Sun Girl and Dragon Prince. It has many of the traditional fairy tale archetypes you see again and again in Grimm-styles tales. I found the end kind of odd, but maybe because it didn’t wrap up as neatly as some fairy tales do. It also has that classic, but sometimes annoying theme of downtrodden-yet-beautiful-girl-with-a-heart-of-gold who tames wild beasts into civilized men. There’s a reason that story is classic … but it’s probably inspired plenty of young maidens to go kissing more than their share of frogs, hoping they’d turn into princes of their own.
There are parallels to those themes in The Thirteenth Hour prequel, A Shadow in the Moonlight, so what can I say? Fairy tale characters don’t always make great role models for real life 🙂 Interestingly enough, although I’d never read this tale before, there’s a hunter in it who has a lot of parallels to the cursed hunter in A Shadow in the Moonlight as well. (You can read that tale free and find out for yourself.)
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Since this week’s episode takes place in Russia, where snow is not uncommon, part of it was recorded outside, where there was a lot of snow. Since I had my daughter strapped to my back, I could adopt my usual hamfisted approach to shoveling snow (which, to be fair, is a whole body workout). So instead, I decided to try of a variant of the ninja sweeping method I talked about a few weeks ago. I’m calling it ninja snow shoveling:
You basically just shift your hips forward and back to load up some snow (steps 2 and 3). To dump it (step 4), you lean forward, quickly shoot out the shovel like a pool cue while giving it a simultaneous turn so the snow flops over onto the ground (or wherever you want to put it). There’s some arm action, but not much, and your back and shoulders stay pretty much neutral. Result? A ton easier!
Anyway, that doesn’t much to do with today’s episodes, which is a version of the folktale, The Firebird. However, back in episode 61, I talked about the video game The Last Express, which has the tale of The Firebird woven into its plot.
This is a children’s book version of the ballet version.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today, my daughter and I are reading a beautifully illustrated fairy tale written and illustrated by Ruth Sanderson. This tale, which being quite similar to the Grimm brother’s tale The Water of Life, which we read earlier this year, takes a number of fairy tale archetypes and shakes them up into a new variant. Even though it’s intended for younger audiences, I remember really liking this picture book when I was a teenager, when I first encountered it. Check out some of the highly detailed, almost photorealistic painting that adorn the book:
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
This week, we are reading an old Arthurian legend, retold by Margaret Hodges and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman:
I think the actual tale is a bit more complex and convoluted than this version, but this one distills it down nicely to the important bits. And even if real life is more complex, it is good to remind oneself that sometimes good things do actually happen to good people, that appearances can be deceiving, and a bit of kitchen work, as menial as it might seem, never hurt anyone.
Thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
In this week’s episode, we start off the new year by reading a fairy tale that I loved as a child. In many ways, I think the underlying theme of looking for a potion that grants the drinker life and health probably influenced my decision to include a similar plot device in The Thirteenth Hour. This book is written by Barbara Rogasky and features the illustrations of Trina Schart Hyman, who had been featured many times here.
Happy New Year, and thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
I’ve recently rediscovered ninjutsu after a nearly 20 year hiatus. After having trained in martial arts more than half my life at this point, it’s fun and eye-opening to start as a beginner at something almost totally new (since I can’t say I really remember much from my initial foray into the art — see Episode #47 for more). In this week’s podcast, I reflect a little on the journey and read a few segments on conditioning, diet, and meditative practices from Stephen K. Hayes’ 1984 book, Ninjutsu: the Art of the Invisible Warrior.
I totally remember sitting on the floor of my local library reading this book (and the many others Mr. Hayes wrote) when I was a kid (and not really understanding most of it, I should add, since I mostly just looked at the pictures and tried to figure out how to throw shuriken). Of course, it was much harder to find these kinds of books then (pre-internet), so thanks to so-called modern technology, what were considered priceless secrets to a twelve year old can now be easily found via Amazon, eBay, and Half.com by an adult decades later 🙂 Even though the book is over 30 years old, the advice inside is still as applicable today as it was years ago. It expands the world of the martial arts to the world at large. It takes specific skills learned for a specific purpose and makes them applicable to the world of everyday life … which, I suppose, is what they are all about to begin with.
In this short clip, Stephen K. Hayes talks a little about his own personal journey and the heroic ideal, which I thought was appropriate for a site that talks about fantasy stories and the hero’s journey:
Click on the image of the book above to read more about it on Amazon.
Thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
On today’s episode, we read Chapter 2 of one of my favorite books of all time, Lost in Place, which is a memoir written by Mark Salzman about his childhood and adolescence in suburban Connecticut during the 1970s. We read chapter 1 back in episode #57. Here’s a quick recap from the film Protagonist, where the author brings us up to speed:
Here he talk about his kung fu instructor, introduced in this chapter:
Thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
That first day began a month of basic training that all recruits were required to go through. Nobody told us why the King had sent for us, and when we asked, we were told to just shut up and stop trying to think. I had some trouble with the training in the beginning, but after that, I surprised myself by being able to keep up just fine. I was used to physical labor, and this wasn’t much different. A few of the older men, though, unused to climbing, running, and crawling on the ground, collapsed after the first week and had to be carried off the field on stretchers. This happened to one of the Aquarians a few days into our training. He happened to be not far from me, and when I saw him collapse on the field, I went over to see if he were okay. But he pushed me away and, spitting out some mud, said something that sounded like “piss off.” I think he also spat out something about going back to the orphanage, but I couldn’t make it out. Whatever it was, it wasn’t friendly, and I left him to the medics. Every morning at six sharp, we had to line up for morning exercises. Then came the obstacle course, which was pretty hard at first because the old soldier babysitting us – fat, half–blind, and unable to do half of the things he made us do – didn’t feel like showing us how to do it. He was also frequently hung–over, which didn’t help.
His first lesson, dare I even call it that, was on marching. I was a miserable failure at marching, and, to be honest, never did learn to do it right. Our marching exercises consisted of an endless and, in my opinion, rather pointless array of drills. March left. Now right. Spin left. Then right. Whatever! I always ended up in the first row since I was the shortest, and although I could manage forward and backward, every time we had to turn left or right I got all mixed up. My right or the instructor’s right? If I had eyes in the back of my head, I could have cheated by seeing which way the other recruits turned, but inevitably, I screwed it up and got glares and whispered threats from the proud Aquarian men.
So you might be wondering, what about the good stuff? Well, the drill instructor was technically responsible for teaching us how to use weapons – things like swords, spears, and bows. The problem was that there were never enough to go around, since the “real Army” got preference over us recruits. So we often spent most of this time sitting around waiting until someone else was done with the rusty sword or whatever we were supposed to be using that day. Not that it really mattered in the end; after one of the men accidentally shot himself in the foot with an arrow, the old soldier in charge of training us didn’t trust us with live weapons. He was afraid he might accidentally–on purpose be in the way the next time. Can’t say I blamed him; morale was pretty low, even in the “real Army,” and no one felt like extending himself any more than he had to, especially if there was danger involved. After the arrow incident, all we got were branches chopped off a tree.
“Here, pretend this one’s a spear,” the drill instructor would say, handing out the wobbly saplings. “But that’s no damned excuse for not put the ol’ killer instinct to work!” he would yell. “Stop thinking these are sticks. Like I told you yesterday, they’re spears, damn it! Spears! So when you thrust, yell! When you charge, yell! I want some spirit! All together, now, lemme hear it! Kill! Kill! Kill! Hey, why am I the only one shouting?”
Really, I’m not kidding. The old man was nothing if not cracked. And, true to form, every day, he had us line up at the western corner of the training field, where there was a thin row of midget–sized trees.
“Come on, ladies, one tree to a man, just like yesterday. Now watch the master.”
He delighted in this demonstration. He’d take a stance about ten feet from some poor shrub and begin to twirl his stick around. Then he’d stop, look menacingly at the pint–sized tree, and, with a blood curdling whoop, charge forward and begin smacking the trunk, each time, shouting his “Kill! Kill! Kill!” routine punctuated with an occasional, “How do you like that, huh?” One time I swear he even said, “Not so tough, now, are ya … tree!”
After a bit, he’d get tired and, turning to us while leaning on his stick and sucking in more wind than a geriatric racehorse, he’d explain that was the kind of energy you needed to attack with.
“Now you!” he would bark, and a recruit had to repeat what had just been demonstrated.
The instructor had been satisfied only once, when an unlucky recruit had hit a patch of mud on his charge, and instead of hitting the tree with his stick, hit it full force with his sliding body instead. The young, slender tree simply recoiled from the blow, sending the recruit flying back into the mud. Tree: 1, human: 0.
“Yeah!!! That boy has the kinda attitude I want!” He even went over to help the dazed boy to his feet. “That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout, boy. Next time you just make sure to show that tree who’s the damn boss. Watch and learn from the master.”
Then he took a swipe at the errant shrub himself but missed and, cursing and spitting, fell flat on his ass. That was the end of the lesson for the day. Tree: 2, human: 0.
Logan and Aurora look up at the night sky near the trees referenced in this passage near the end of the book.
Thanks for listening, and happy holidays!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Today marks one year of continuous podcasts in this format, and it’s a been a fun adventure. So today’s episode is all about adventure – or rather, the side of adventure that doesn’t often make it in the pages of adventures books or memoirs – the deliberation that sometimes occurs prior and the calamities that happen in everyday life that, when looked back on years later, make one think – “you know, that was quite the adventure.”
So here’s a segment from The Thirteenth Hour about this:
“I don’t know what to say,” she murmured. “What do you say to a story like that?”
“I dunno, you tell me.”
It seemed like she had not moved since I had started. “Well, you always dreamed of seeing the world, and now you’re doing it. And on a quest – just like something out of a faerie tale, isn’t it?”
“I guess …” but a pretty messed up one, I added to myself. And then I continued, “But characters in faerie tales always seemed to know what they were doing, with a genuine purpose, for good reasons. Not just for a selfish King who wants to live forever. That just seems like such a dumb reason. I mean, I guess I’m not supposed to question my orders, but it’s just so hard to get riled up enough to risk your rear when you think the goal’s a waste of time. And men.”
She nodded.
“It’s okay. I guess, that’s the sort of thing Kings and Queens do, it’s just that … I dunno.”
“So, Logan, why not just leave? What you care about Darian? Nobody would stop you; as far as they know, you ate it along with the rest of the crew at sea.”
I sighed, picked up a stone, and threw it, feeling the tension ripple through my muscles. I watched it fly through the air, spinning unevenly, and finally disappear into the morning fog.
“I can’t explain it, really. You’re right, I could just leave, and nobody would know. But there’s something holding me back … I guess I kind of feel I owe it to the others to finish what we started … since we all trained together, and they were good guys overall. I guess I feel like if I finished, they wouldn’t have given up their lives in vain. You know? And …”
I looked around the marketplace. There was a dead soldier lying not more than twenty feet away. He had also died for King Darian. There had to be a better reason than glory, civic duty, or patriotism. Or was it just the sense of adventure?
“Logan?”
“Sorry. Anyway, I made this promise to Wally right before he died. I promised we would finish the quest so he wouldn’t have to hear Darian’s complaining in the afterlife.” Aurora giggled. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Well, kind of.”
“But it’s just a legend.”
“Yeah.”
“Finishing the quest for your friends is one thing, but, Logan, what do you want?”
“I’m starting to think that is what I want. I’ve always … liked to think of things, but doing them was another matter. Let’s face it – I’m a dreamer. You know?”
“Don’t I,” said Aurora knowingly.
“I like to sit and dream about the things I would like to do. But then I realized in real life, I just sorta let things happen to me, without ever knowing why. I’d like that not to happen so much anymore. I’ve always wanted to see the places that I’ve read about in faerie stories and legends. But now … now I can actually see those places.”
Aurora nodded.
“I think if I walked now, I’d always wonder. Wally would often say that even if something appears impossible doesn’t mean that it’s meant to stay that way.”
“Well, that makes sense to me. You know, I never told anybody this, but … I always hated that inn job.”
“What! Well, you were a damned good actress then! I thought you loved it.”
“Well, I liked the horses. And Mr. Cromwell made up for a lot. He was like an uncle to me. But that was it. The smell of the stable, cleaning up after the horses, difficult customers, washing the bedsheets, cleaning the rooms, serving the drinks, cleaning up the bathrooms, with the stench and the vomit after a celebration … yuck.”
“From that to the coal mines. Living the high life, huh?”
“Well, you know how I landed that mining job? Well, they needed people, and honestly, I think they would have taken anyone, but the foreman said it wasn’t a good job for women, and no woman could ever expect to make it because she didn’t have what it took. Women, he said, were weak. I thought, how does he know? Of course, deep down, I was scared. But, just to spite him and prove him wrong, I made him take me; I was so mad. In the end, he just shrugged, and said, ‘Well, it’s your life.’ He was right; it was just as bad as I thought it’d be.”
“How bad’s that?”
“Well, it was worse, if that’s any indication. Damp, claustrophobic, lots of dirty, sweaty men, black air all around, always risk of explosions … I’d rather shovel manure for the rest of my life than go back there.”
“Well, you’re still alive,” I said at last.
Aurora laughed. “I’m just venting. I’m not a total cynic yet, Logan. Besides, this was about you, not me. I just wanted to say that I think it’s good you’re thinking like this. Maybe I need to start, too.”
“Oh, so there are things you’d like to do,” I said.
“Of course! I’m not dead yet, Logan. I still want to explore some, live some, and see some of the world. And then, one day, I don’t know when, maybe when I’m a doddering old lady, settle down in a little cottage in the forest in a place with a lot of open space and some purple mountains, and live the rest of my life. I hope that’s not too much to ask.” Wait … the open fields and the purple mountains that seemed to call out to me … the thought painted itself onto the canvas in my mind. And another with it.
“Hmmm. Lemme make a suggestion.”
“Sure.”
“Come with me. On the quest.”
I expected Aurora to say something, to laugh, or at least to show some indication of surprise. But she didn’t. She cocked her head to one side, looking silent and thoughtful. She stared off, absently, into the cool morning mist. She was silent for a time.
“Yes,” she said, with a nod that added an air of finality to her reply. “How did you know, Logan, what I was just about to ask?” she asked.
I smiled. “Well, I have known you for a pretty long time.”
So that’s how Aurora joined me on the quest. And because she did, our lives were changed forever.
The next clip on the show partly concerns these hardy little vehicles, called matatus, commonly found in East Africa, that are an important source of public transport. They’re Japanese made minivans that officially hold 15 people but more often carry somewhere around 20-30. My wife and I have been on them many a time while in the region while there for work … but this time, we ended up on an adventure. Note this one (just a picture I found randomly on the internet) even has the word “HERO” emblazoned across the front (i.e. the hero’s journey usually involves some discomfort).
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Back in the 70s and 80s, there were a ton of these little softcover books published by author and artist team Stephen Cosgrove and Robin James. They were short illustrated books intended to be read to children featuring animals in a fantasy setting and a little moral at the end. They were, in a sense, short fairy tales.
One of the nice things, I always thought, were the beautiful illustrations accompanying each page done by Robin James. I’m sure they provided inspiration to many a young artist.
Interestingly enough, these books were an early successful foray in self publishing. Apparently, the author, Stephen Cosgrave, initially couldn’t get anyone to publish his books so he decided to take the process on himself. I can imagine that must have quite an undertaking at the time, since even today, it is expensive to get books printed in color while keeping the price point at something reasonable a parent will be willing to spend. Good for him for sticking with it long enough for it to take off.
In any event, this is a particularly cute one I read with my daughter about the unlikely friendship between a unicorn and a sheep.
Here are some pictures from the book:
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to the new upcoming retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Free online streaming of the growing Thirteenth Hour soundtrack: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ Stay tuned to a full 45+ min album coming 11/13/16. Join the mailing list for a free copy.
On today’s episode, I’m reading from a little book calledZen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel. We talked about Zen in episode #44, and while that episode focused more on empty handed martial arts, this one is about the practice of archery, and how that can be used as a pathway to understand Zen. It’s a book I first read when I was about 13, didn’t really understand, and re-read a number of other times afterwards, each time taking a slightly different set of ideas from it (never entirely understanding it, I will say).
I can say for sure, though, that the best shots in archery, and perhaps this is so with many things in life, come from that place where Zen resides, the land of no conscious thought, that retreat your mind wanders to when it’s fully present and occupied by what it’s doing at the moment.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to the new upcoming retro 80s soundtrack!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Free online streaming of the growing Thirteenth Hour soundtrack: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ Stay tuned to a full 45+ min album coming 11/13/16. Join the mailing list for a free copy.
This week, my daughter and I are reading The Sleeping Beauty, written/retold and beautifully illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, who also illustrated St. George and the Dragon, which we read on episode #52. Below are some pictures:
As an aside, my brother recently told me that Stan Bush, the man behind “The Touch”created a new 80s-style anthem for the game Shadow Warrior 2 – something that is incredibly awesome on so many levels I don’t know where to start. You can listen to the EP on Souncloud! (click on the link above to listen).
Speaking of which, the soundtrack to The Thirteenth Hour, Long Ago Not So Far Away is done and will be coming out on 11/13/16. It will be available digitally and on CD. If I can find a few cassette tapes, I may even try to make a few cassettes that will be available on the eBay store for the truly old school. (Remember making mix tapes? This assumes I actually remember how to do that 🙂 If you want an advance preview in the next few weeks, sign up for the mailing list for a free advance digital copy!
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast and a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and@the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Free online streaming of the growing Thirteenth Hour soundtrack: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ Stay tuned to a full 45+ min album coming in the next few weeks!
This week, in honor of Labor Day in the USA, I’m reading a few excerpts from The Thirteenth Hour that go out to all those unsung folks doing jobs that keep our world running smoothly, often behind the scenes. For example, Aurora here is a dishwasher, and how often do they get their due?
That evening, I met Aurora in town at the pub for a meal before our work shifts started. She received a discount on food there and could bring a guest for free, so it worked out better than the soldiers’ dining hall in the castle, which offered no discounts, absolutely no guests, and was awful to boot. When we sat down at a booth, I discovered the book in my back pocket.
“Whatcha got there?” She looked the little book over. “Oh, knitting. Interesting. Do you know, I learned how once, at the orphanage, but I never really got the hang of it. Hmm, let’s see if I remember any of this stuff,” she said as she flipped through the manual…
…“Nope, don’t remember a thing about knitting, unfortunately,” said Aurora, knocking me out of my reverie.
Just then, a waitress with a sour expression on her face brought over two bowls of stew, two glasses of water, and a hunk of bread. Aurora invited her to sit down with us while we ate, and the woman’s annoyed expression brightened for a moment as she welcomed the opportunity to avoid work for a few more minutes. She poured herself a pint of ale from the tap behind her and collapsed heavily onto the booth next to Aurora. Aurora introduced me to the waitress, who said, “Oh, so you’re Logan. Aurora mentioned someone like you.” Her eyes came to rest on the book on knitting.
“You were reading this?”
Aurora smiled and nodded.
“What the hell for? You work for a living now, why do you want to go back to this garbage? They got stores for this, you know.” I noticed that the waitress had repositioned herself towards Aurora in the manner that women did when they wanted to create a third wheel. “Oh … well, sure. I just thought it was, well, interesting.”
“Ha! That’s gotta be the overstatement of the year. More like the most uninteresting thing ever. What the hell’s it good for?”
“Well … you’ll always be able to make clothes if you can knit,” I reasoned.
As the waitress shifted back to look at me, her eyes narrowed to slits. They said, “I didn’t ask you.” But her mouth said, “You know, I once had a husband who said that to me, and look where it got him. Humph.” She gave Aurora a stern, teacherly kind of look as she got up to go. “Get rid of this guy now,” it seemed to say.
Aurora looked embarrassed but shrugged it off. “Sorry, she’s like that to everyone at first.”
Just then, a door at the back of the room swung open and a deep voice yelled, “Aurora, where the hell are you? We’re opening in five minutes! Look at all these dishes! There’s no end to these …” the yelling trailed away as the door swung shut.
“Uggh, I guess I gotta go, Logan. Sorry,” she tossed her hands up a little as she stood and dropped her napkin on the table.
“Ah, it’s alright, Aurora. Tomorrow, at the gym, then?”
“Sure, I …”
“Aurora, did you hear me, dammit! Get your ass in here!” yelled the voice from the back again.
Aurora rolled her eyes and sighed. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute!” she yelled over her back. I helped her gather the dirty dishes.
“Thanks, I got it.”
“Now, dammit! Do I have to come out there?”
“Jeeze, go on before that guy busts a vein or something,” I said. She kissed me quickly then ran through the swinging back door. In her hurry, she forgot one of the bowls, which I scooped up and placed on a tray of other dirty dishes. The waitress that had sat with us happened to look over and gave me a dirty look as I walked out.
“No tip again,” she muttered. “Bastard.”
I heard her but did not understand. Since I had never been able to afford restaurants before, I was still pretty new to eating in one; perhaps there was some unspoken custom I was not aware of, probably involving money or work – the things adults typically complained of – and my general ignorance about both was probably what had incurred the waitress’ wrath to begin with.
You can hear more excerpts on the show. Enjoy your day of rest, and know that if you have one of those essential buy thankless jobs, whether it pays or not – stay-at-home parents, take note – there people out there who are grateful. =)
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast and a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and @the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
In this week’s podcast, my daughter and I read two traditional fairy tales. Illustrations from the book we read them from,Tales From The Enchanted World, are below. We’d previously read from this book in the reading of the tale, Childe Roland.
The Well at World’s End
Cap ‘O Rushes
I’m currrently in the process of transitioning old podcast episodes to a new server, but hopefully, there should be no interruptions and no real change for listeners. You should still be able to access the podcasts here and on iTunes, as before.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast and a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and @the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
This week, we’re reading an illustrated adaptation of the first part of Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queen – the tale of St. George and the Dragon. The one we’re reading from was illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (check out a tribute and bio on this blog) and penned by Margaret Hodges. You can find a copy online at retailers like Amazon or you local library. There are a few pictures and excerpts includes below. I’d recommend any of the books written and illustrated by this duo if you enjoy fairy tales and/or fantasy art.
The tale is an abridged version for children of the original, which was a lengthy poem. You can find a summary of the original Faerie Queen tale and a commentary here. It’s more adult oriented than this version and has more overt allegorical/religious/moral overtones as opposed to this one, which reads more like a traditional fairy tale and mirrors the end of the original poem, a summary of which you can find here.
Personally, I have always wondered why everyone had it in for the dragon, who also fought a good fight, and I kind of felt bad for him. Here he was minding his own business and … well, I guess that kind of flips the story on its head, doesn’t it. Maybe someone one day can rewrite the tale from the dragon’s point of view.
But that’s neither here nor there. Anyhow, I posted a few pictures from the book on Instagram before from the book, which you can find here:
It’s also in these pages that we learn that the name George means “Plow the Earth” and “Fight the Good Fight.” Georges of the world, take note and take heart. You have a fine lineage.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast and a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and @the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
Last week, we read the Old English fairy tale, “Childe Roland.” This week, I’m reading aloud the Robert Browning poem, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” which was the inspiration for Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. It’s quite different from the fairy tale and from King’s books, though it shares the dark psychological bent he gave his long magnus opus. I found it a difficult poem to read. Couldn’t quite get into a good rhythm, so there are parts that seem more staccato than I would have liked. It seemed more like one of those works that tries to evoke a series of feelings and images rather than telling a narrative tale. It reminded me of the Coleridge poem, “Kubla Khan” (In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree …).
You can find an interpretation of Browning’s poem on Sparknotes. One of the takeaways of the poem is there is always sacrifice in the single minded devotion to a goal and sometimes that leads to some culture shock when others can’t quite understand what the goal was all for. Logan from The Thirteenth Hour figures that at the end of his own long quest, as mentioned here.
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, by Thomas Moran (clicking on the picture takes you to the Wikipedia entry to this poem).
If you don’t know the story of Roland a la Stephen King, I highly recommend reading them or listening to the audio books (which are excellent). The first novel, The Gunslinger, has a great opening line. Below are some pictures from the novels in the series.
The beginning of The Gunslinger …
Susannah Dean takes aim with Roland’s revolver, by Ned Dameron.
Jake Chambers and Oy on the attack, by Michael Whelan.
Jake and Roland at the clearing at the end of the path, by Michael Whelan.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast and a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and @the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
This week, we are reading a narrative form of the old English fairytale, “Childe Roland” as he quests after the Elf King in the Dark Tower from this illustrated book:
Click on the picture above to be taken to an Amazon link (book now out of print, unfortunately).
Illustrations by Moira Kemp that accompany the text:
Childe Roland encounters Merlin.
Childe Roland getting schooled by Merlin.
Childe Roland on his quest.
Childe Roland tempted by food as his sister, Burd Ellen, is unable to keep from giving it to him.
This story provided inspiration for Stephen Kin’s epic fantasy, the Dark Tower series. More on this in the future. Here are some illustrations by Michael Whelan of Stephen King’s version of Childe Roland, Roland of Gilead, the Gunslinger:
Roland and a young Jake Chambers, the real “childe” version of the adult Roland.
Roland looking into a pond, probably contemplating all the sacrifices he’s gone through on his quest for the Dark Tower.
As always, thanks for listening!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast and a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour!
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and @the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
/pic6361051.jpg)
Signup for the 
The Thirteenth Hour 